Heir Of The Chosenjiryakketsu
by FenrisRoots
Summary: Discontinued: Naruto/shaman king crossover.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, just to make everything clear, this story was written awhile ago and I ended up taking off this site however I've decided to repost it and many others that I've discontinued or are awaiting a rewrite.

ALL of my active stories are posted on the profile for Fenris187 and none of the fics here will be updated.

Also, I own no IP at all right now and make no money off this free access fanfiction.

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Uzumaki Naruto was an unusual child, at just seven years old he had already had countless near death experiences courtesy of the angry mobs and assassins that tried to kill him on a regular basis. The worst part was that he didn't know what he did to deserve their hatred.

The attempts on his life were always at their worst on his birthday, that day they would beat him till he was within a millimetre of death before the ANBU that were supposed to look after him would step in and take him to the hospital just to make sure that they didn't get punished by the village leader, the Sandaime Hokage.

Naruto was pretty sure that only 4 of the ANBU who ever looked after him actually did their job properly and would stop the mobs before he was hurt.

Inu, Neko, Tenzo and Itachi, they always made sure that he was protected whenever they were on watch duty. Inu and Neko even went beyond the call of duty and helped him when they were off duty, they even bought him a few sets of kunai and shuriken for when he started the academy today.

The problem was that all four of them were considered the best ANBU had to offer, and were always being sent on important missions and as such couldn't look after him more than a couple of nights a year.

But as mentioned before, today was the day he started the academy.

"NARUTO! WAKE UP!"

"AARRRGGHH!" the young boy screamed out as he fell out of his bed. He was short for his age due to malnutrition, his spiky blonde hair cushioning his fall. His face was adorned with 3 distinctive whisker like marks on each cheek. His deep azure eyes looked up to the voice as he nursed the back of his head and was met with a small, floating red orb with large green eyes and a small mouth, framed by extensions that looked surprisingly similar to a pair of hair bangs while a strange, wispy tail like protrusion stuck out from its rear.

"Naru-chan do you want to be late for your first day of the academy?" the strange being asked in a stern yet feminine voice, causing the blonde to start looking around for a clock, which he eventually managed to find.

The clock said that it was 7:30, and the academy started at 8:00, and it was twenty minutes away from his apartment.

"SHIT!"

"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto! What did you just say?" the strange ball asked with narrowed eyes in a dangerous tone, while the child dashed around his apartment getting dressed while gathering his supplies for school.

"Shut up ya stupid hallucination!" the blonde shouted out as he began to boil some water for a cup of instant ramen.

"I'M NOT A HALLUCINATION!" it screamed back.

"Then how come no one else can see you!?" Naruto asked loudly causing the strange ball to go silent.

"I never expected anyone to be able to see me, even you," it finally replied with a sad look in its eyes, "but even so, DON'T SWEAR!" it finished with all the previous anger fully restored.

"I'll swear if I want to!" this was obviously the wrong thing to say, as the strange floating orb charged straight into him, and then somehow forced his arm to slap him, obviously as punishment for his outburst.

"That's it I'm officially insane," the blonde muttered to himself as he sat in the corner of the room assuming the foetal position.

"Oh come on Naru-chan, if you don't hurry up you'll be late for school," the ball said as it floated in the middle of the room.

"SHIT! I almost forgot!" he shouted as he finished getting ready, causing the ball to sweatdrop _"I've only just punished him for that and he goes and does it again, just how dense is he?"_

"Naruto! STOP SWEARING!"

"Leave me alone! I don't like you ya stupid hallucination!" having said this, he was surprised to see the orbs eyes fill with sadness and pain, he didn't understand or care why or how, it was just a figment of his imagination after all.

Quickly getting ready he left his apartment and headed off towards the academy, not noticing the floating orb beginning to shed tears as he closed the door.

The walk to the academy was uneventful, the villagers did nothing more than glare at him on his way to the large building and the floating balls that showed up everywhere completely ignored him, which he was grateful for.

As he entered the building he was immediately met with the icy stare of the academy's receptionist, the person obviously did NOT like him.

"Uh, hi, I'm supposed to be starting the academy today," the blonde stated nervously, he really didn't want to get in any trouble.

"Go away demon, we don't have anywhere for your kind here!" the receptionist spat out at him causing him to flinch at the hate directed at him.

"And exactly what do you mean by that?" came an angry question from a person hiding in the shadows. He had gravity defying silver hair and was wearing black ninja pants, a black form fitting, long sleeved shirt, black shinobi sandals, black fingerless gloves with a metal plate on the back of each hand, metal body armour, shin guards, forearm protectors and a dog mask. Strapped to the back of his waist was an ANBU issue ninjato. It was one of the four ANBU who actually helped him, Inu.

"Inu-niisan!" the blonde cried out as he noticed his big brother figure standing in the corner. Even though you couldn't see his eyes, it was clear that he was glaring at the now paralysed receptionist.

"Hokage-sama himself has approved Naruto to enter the shinobi program and you are refusing to allow him entry into this establishment, that would qualify as treason, do you really want to suffer the consequences of such actions?" the masked shinobi asked dangerously as the receptionist paled under his gaze.

"N-no ANBU-san, I-I'm sorry i-it won't happen again," the receptionist stuttered out before searching their records and pulling out the small boys timetable and handing it to the ANBU.

"Make sure of that, if the Hokage finds out about this single incident, he won't be happy, so feel lucky that I'm giving you ONE chance. Come on Naruto, I'll explain to your new sensei why you're late," Inu stated as he took the young blonde by the shoulder and led him to the classroom he would be spending most of the year.

Inu knocked on the door before opening it to a room filled with children sat a desks staring at them, while a Chūnin at the front looked on with interest before sending a glare at the young blonde, "how may I help you ANBU-san?" the man asked, he was average in his height, had messy brown hair and was slightly overweight.

"Naruto here is joining this class but was held up by an incompetent receptionist, I hope you'll treat him properly," the silver haired man stated dangerously behind his mask.

"Of course Inu-san, now Naruto, would you please go and take your seat over there," the instructor said calmly as he pointed to an empty seat.

After taking his seat, Inu left the class and the Instructor introduced himself as Mayakashi Gihen, before asking the class to introduce themselves one at a time, with only 8 others in the class standing out to the young blonde.

They were Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chōji, Yamanaka Ino, Aburame Shino, Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. Seven of them stood out to Naruto due to them being from ninja clans, while the other stood out due to her 'exotic' hair colour.

Shikamaru had black hair tied up into a pineapple like style and was slumped over his desk, Chōji was overweight and eating a packet of crisps while wearing under wear on his head, Ino was a pretty blonde girl with blue eyes, he could hear buzzing coming off Shino who wore a high collared coat and a pair of sunglasses, Hinata was a dark blue haired girl with lavender eyes and was currently trying to hide in the collar of her coat, Kiba wore a grey coat with fur trim1, Sasuke was a dark haired boy with black eyes and was wearing a blue t-shirt and white shorts and Sakura was a small girl wearing a red dress and had PINK hair.

"Now you," the Chūnin stated as he pointed at Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, training, Neko-chan, Inu-niisan and Oji-san, I hate the 3 minutes you have to wait for instant ramen to cool and balls," he said earning questioning looks from the rest of the room, "my hobbies are gardening and my dream is to become Hokage!" he finished with determination.

"Alright then, first thing you are going to learn is how to channel your chakra," the Chūnin said as the lesson on channelling chakra started. Half way through the lesson though, "Uzumaki! Stop disturbing the class!"

"What ? I wasn't," but that was all he could say before the instructor interrupted him.

"That's it! Get out NOW!" the clearly angry Chūnin shouted at the young blonde who decided that it would be better to just do as he was told.

He waited outside for the rest of the lesson, before the entire class exited the room and made their way outside.

"Uzumaki!" the brown haired man stated as he exited the room, "Don't you dare speak back to me again! Do you understand!" the man said through gritted teeth gaining a nod out of the young ninja in training, "good, now hurry up and get to the 1st year training ground ya worthless brat!"

Naruto quickly got up and made his way outside.

The entire class was gathered in front of a large ring used for taijutsu spars, "alright class, now it is time to test out your skills in taijutsu, first up is, Nara Shikamaru vs Futokutei Ichi," the Chūnin stated as the two contestants entered the ring, "Now BEGIN!" "I give up," the sheer speed of the forfeit threw everyone off, since the pineapple haired Nara started to say it BEFORE their instructor had finished.

After a brief argument over how troublesome a simple spar to test their level is, everyone fought someone, most either being unimportant or (in the case of the clan heirs) too quick to care about.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, please enter the arena," Gihen called out as the two walked into the ring, "BEGIN!"

Without a seconds hesitation the dark haired boy charged at the blonde and landed a right hook to the side of his face, causing him to fall on his ass. "HAHAHAHA" the rest of the class laughed as Naruto felt tears welling up in his eyes, not from the pain but the humiliation.

He refused to let the tears fall and got back on his feet, only to receive a punch to his stomach courtesy of his opponent. Before he had a chance to cough, he found a kick hitting the side of his face, causing him to fall down yet again.

Just outside the ring, the strange ball from his apartment looked on in pain, anger and pride, pain at seeing Naruto get beat down like that, anger at the students for laughing and the instructor for not stopping the match and pride, at the blondes will to keep getting up.

Eventually though, Naruto was unable to continue and passed out.

When he woke up, he saw a white ceiling _"Oh, great, a hospital,"_ he thought as he looked around, it was when he noticed the desk with a young nurse sitting at it that he got confused.

"Oh, you're awake," the woman stated when she realised he was conscious, "you really should learn to give up. You took quite the beating because of your stubbornness."

"Who are you and where am I?" he asked completely ignoring her statement.

"(sigh) I'm the school nurse and this is the nurses office," she told him deciding that he was too dense to listen to reason.

"Huh? The school has a nurse?" the blonde stated as though it was something he had never considered, causing the young woman to sweatdrop at his stupidity.

"You do realise that students get injured all the time and the hospital is on the other side of the village right?" she asked him hoping he would understand.

"Ah, sorry, guess I wasn't thinking huh?"

"That's okay, I'll do to give you a quick check up before you're allowed to leave, okay," she stated as she began to check over her patient.

After several minutes of making sure he was fit enough to return to class, she gave him permission to leave, which he happily did.

As he was trying to find his classroom, a voice he really didn't want to hear called him from behind, "are you alright Naru-chan?" the floating orb asked as it flew in front of him.

"Go away!" he said through gritted teeth.

"But, I can show you to the classroom," the strange object claimed desperately.

"How can a figment of my imagination know something I don't?" he asked it in the hope that it would leave.

"Because I'm not a hallucination!" it responded, while thinking of how to punish the Hokage for making it so difficult to get the boy to acknowledge it.

"(sigh) fine then… if you're right, then I'll admit I'm wrong about you being a hallucination," the blond finally relented, earning a smile off the strange being.

"Alrighty then! Follow me!" it shouted joyfully as it bobbed down the hallway, with Naruto following just behind it.

After a couple of minutes walking, the blob finally stopped just outside the classroom he had been assigned to.

"See… what did I tell ya," the ball said smugly.

"Okay… so you're not a hallucination… but that doesn't mean I have to listen to you," he claimed as he walked past the floating orb and knocked on the door, leaving it to blink dumbly several times as he was let in the classroom and told to take his seat.

By the end of the day, Naruto had been thrown out of the classroom yet again, been advised by several more people to learn how to give up, cause it usually hurt less and missed even more coursework.

"Look Naru-chan… I know you don't want to listen to me, but please understand that I have your best interests at heart, and you need to go to the library and study if you want to become a ninja!" the red ball stated at him as he walked home.

"The librarian won't let me in."

"Then go at night."

"It's locked at night."

"Then just break in."

"That's a crime."

"So is assault, but that never stopped the villagers from doing it to you."

"(sigh) fine, fine, I'll go at ten," Naruto finally gave in, knowing full well that the little ball was capable of keeping him awake all night if it wanted.

When ten o'clock came, Naruto was ready for his first attempt at breaking into the Konoha library, of course, since it was a public library, as long as he didn't take anything or cause any damage, he could only be charged with breaking and entering.

Quietly making his way towards the building, he used his years of beating aided stealth skills to reach the library undetected, before taking a hair pin he had found one day, and using it to pick the lock. Now one might ask why a seven year old child knew how to pick locks, and the answer was simple… he needed to. Most dumpsters in Konoha had padlocks placed on them in an attempt to make the blond starve… but he just learned how to unlock them.

Finally unlocking the door, he had a quick look around to make sure no one had seen him, before opening the door and entering the building for the first time in his life.

"Wow… I have to admit, you are definitely stealthy for a seven year old Naru-chan," the red orb stated as it phased through the door as he closed it.

"Uh… thanks, I guess," the young blond responded with a little bit of uncertainty in his voice, before he proceeded to search the building for shinobi material.

After several minutes of searching (with the aid of the blob) he had gathered the main material he needed for his first year at the academy, however, as he was walking towards a table to place the books on, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

After placing his books on a table, he proceeded towards the thing that had grabbed his attention, one of the bottom shelves… felt off. After ignoring the red orbs calls, he proceeded to remove the books from that bottom shelf, and the more he removed, the more he saw… IT.

He didn't know what it was, he didn't know why he had this strange attraction to it… until it spoke to him.

"Can you see us child?" a feminine sounding voice called out, earning a yelp of surprise from Naruto.

"It appears as though he can at least hear us," a masculine voice claimed in response to the first.

"Wha-what are you?" the seven year old asked, before what once a strange mass of… something, shot out of the shelf and revealed a pair of animals.

One was a smooth white kitsune with red outlines distinguishing its lips, ears and white, pupilless eyes, while it's paws and the tip of its tail were a light gold colour. It also wore a red bib with a pair of kanji written on it, attached to a red, wooden frame that was located just past its ears.

The other was a Tanuki that had blood red fur with gold and black outlines marking its mouth and white, beady eyes. It had a white mane and its paws and the tip of its tail were the same gold as the kitsune, while it had a similar wooden frame hanging from its neck, while a conical straw hat, with a black tip and the same kanji as the kitsune's bib, shadowed its eyes. It also possessed a small gourd attached to its left hip.

"Hello little one, my name is Imari," the fox stated in the feminine voice.

"And my name is Shigaraki," the Tanuki claimed in the masculine voice.

"What are you?" Naruto asked while backing away from the creatures.

"We are Yamagi2 and we were tasked with ensuring the survival of the shamanic ways," Imari stated.

"However, in order to do so, we needed to find someone with a certain trait… we needed someone who can see ghosts," Shigaraki further explained.

"Over the past 1000 years, no human we have found possessed that ability, however now, you have found us, as such, you are now the sole heir to all the shamanic techniques acquired by the former Asakura family, as well as us and a pair of shikigami called Zenki and Kouki, however it would be wise for you to leave them until you have gained the appropriate strength to wield them, since they can be destructive if not properly controlled," the white fox explained, earning wide eyes from both Naruto and the red orb.

"W-wait! What are shamanic techniques?" the blond asked in shock.

"Shamanic techniques involve using your furyoku or spiritual energy, to bind a spirit or ghost to an object in order to gain access to powerful techniques," Shigaraki explained.

"You can also fuse with a spirit or ghost in order to gain access to the skills they possessed in life, for example, you could fuse with that ghost there and gain access to any skills it had before it died," Imari informed them.

"Wow… that's a lot to take in," the seven year old blond claimed in shock.

"Yeah… it sure is," the orb admitted as well.

"Sooo, if you're a ghost… who are you?" Naruto asked the orb, resulting in it sweatdropping.

"You mean to tell me you seriously haven't figured it out yet?"

"Huh? Figured what out?"

"(sigh)… my name is Uzumaki Kushina and… I'M YOUR MOTHER!" the orb shouted out angrily, causing Naruto to stare into space for several seconds before responding.

"If you're my mother, then who was my father?"

"Namikaze Minato… the Yondaime Hokage, (thump)," Kushina informed the boy, causing him to faint from the shock of being the son of his idol.

"So the child fainted… come on Shigaraki, Kushina-san, would you please be so kind as to lead us to the boy's home, so that we can put him to bed?" Imari asked, gaining a nod from the ghost before the quartet left the library (but not before Shigaraki tidied up), and headed to Naruto's apartment.

1 He hasn't got Akamaru yet

2 Mountain spirits


	2. Chapter 2

"Uhh… damn, that was one weird ass dream," Naruto muttered to himself as he woke up in his bed.

"Naruto… what have I told you about swearing!" came a familiar voice filled with anger.

Looking around his bedroom for the first time since he woke up, the bond was greeted with the sight of a floating red orb, a Tanuki and a kitsune, all sitting (or floating) around his bed.

"Okay… so it wasn't a dream," he corrected himself before looking at his alarm clock, which read 5:20am, "looks like I got just over two hours before I gotta go to school huh."

"Yes it does… so let's use this time wisely, first things first, Kushina here has told us a little about you so we can skip the introductions, the second thing is that I'm sure you are wondering how you got back here," Imari stated, earning a nod of confirmation from the young blond, "the first thing you need to understand is the uses of furyoku, you do remember what that is correct?"

"Umm… Oh I know, it's that fancy word for the weird energy that lets me see you right," he said with pride at being capable of remembering at least that much.

"That is correct. Now the first thing you need to understand is that furyoku is capable of touching things while spirits can't, however a shaman can use furyoku to make a spirit solid in a form known as an Oversoul(1), do you understand?" Shigaraki explained.

"Umm… so shaman's make O.S's by giving their furyoku to spirits? Then does that mean you two are O.S's?" Naruto asked.

"Indeed we are child, an O.S does not lose the furyoku used to create it over time, it actually has to be broken or use its furyoku for an attack to lose any. Our last master gave us a large store of furyoku so that we could last as long as required to find a new shaman, as long as we didn't get into too many fights or do anything stupid that is," the white kitsune stated, earning a look of surprise off the boy.

"We were also given the task of guarding a certain set of… relics, which you are now the proud owner of," the red Tanuki explained, before allowing a chest about half the size of Naruto to drop from his form and onto the floor.

"Inside that chest you will find mostly ancient texts reinforced with furyoku, that has allowed them to withstand the tests of time. Alongside them, you will find a few spirit allies… their names are Morphine, Zenki and Kouki, but as I said before… I would avoid Zenki and Kouki until you learn a bit of the Onmyōdō arts," Imari informed him.

"Eh… what's Onmyōdō?"

"The art of controlling Oni, shikigami and the shamanic elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Ying Yang master Asakura Hao was a master of this art… his skill was so great he could temporarily change the spirit of fire into the spirit of water," the white vixen explained to him.

"Wait! I thought the five elements were fire, water, earth, wind and lightning?" Kushina decided to add her thoughts to the conversation.

"For a ninja they are, however a shaman follows a different set of elements to a ninja," the feminine spirit informed her.

"Hey Imari, is there anything else I can learn as a shaman?"

"As a standard practice, every shaman will learn how to form O.S's… it is considered one of the absolute basic techniques, along with Hyōi Gattai(2), which is nothing more than forcing a spirit to possess you so that you can use its skills.

Other forms of shamanic skills include healing, dowsing and necromancy. Dowsing is the art of tracking using pendulums, while necromancy is the art of using skeletons and corpses to fight for you," Imari informed him.

"Wow… I can't wait to learn how to be a shaman!" the excited blond nearly shouted with joy before leaping towards the chest and opening it, before taking out a strange rectangular object with frills on its ends and some form of screen… and "its orange… AWESOME!"

"So you weren't lying when you said he loved orange…" the red coated Tanuki deadpanned while watching the young boy jumping up and down in excitement.

"Naruto-sama… Naruto-sama… NARUTO-SAMA!" Imari shouted, finally managing to attract the blonds' attention.

"Huh? What is it Imari?"

"As I was just about to tell you, that object you are currently holding is called and Oracle bell. In ancient times the Oracle bell was used to inform shaman of upcoming matches in a tournament that was held once every 500 years, the shaman king tournament. However… because every shaman, including the Patch tribe that held the tournament, was killed, the only purpose the oracle bell has now is to calculate a person's furyoku level or a spirits reiyoku level and before you ask, a spirits reiyoku level is an indication of its strength and how much furyoku a shaman will need to create an O.S for it," the white kitsune informed him.

"Ok… you said that every shaman was killed, what happened?" the young blond asked curiously.

"(sigh) about 2400 years ago, a boy named Asaha Douji was born. Due to a series of unfortunate events… he gained the power to read people's hearts. However, the more he saw of the human heart, the more he began to hate and resent the human race. Eventually the child was adopted into the Asakura family… the family that we served for generations, and changed his name to Asakura Hao.

Learning under one of the greatest families of shamans in history, Hao's abilities grew rapidly, eventually earning him the position as the head of the Asakura family. His power was so great, that even the strongest of shikigami's and Oni's would swear their allegiance to him.

However the curse of being able to read the hearts of people… twisted Hao, he eventually found out about the shaman king tournament and proceeded to enter it in an attempt to gain control of the great spirit… or as your culture would call it, Kami," Imari explained, shocking both Naruto and Kushina at the sheer idea that someone could control GOD, "however… Hao was defeated and killed in the competition.

However… Hao managed to master a technique, known only as 'Ritual of Taizan Fukun'. He is the only person known to have learned that technique… the ritual that allows one to control the circumstances surrounding their own reincarnation… he literally found a way to come back from the dead," this fact simply increased the shock present in the ninja pair, "500 years after his first attempt… Hao reincarnated into the Patch tribe and stole an extremely powerful spirit known as the spirit of fire, it's power could be considered that of a god.

With the spirit of fire by his side, Hao attempted to become shaman king again, and once again he was killed before he could succeed.

However… each time a shaman either comes close to death or physically dies… their power increases, and by his third life… he was simply too strong, and finally became the shaman king.

However, when he was born into his third life, Hao had a twin, his name was Asakura Yoh and fortunately, Yoh was capable of convincing Hao to spare the human race."

"Uh… I don't mean to sound stupid or anything, but what does this have to do with the death of every shaman?" Naruto asked completely confused by the apparent irrelevance of the history he was being told.

However it was Shigaraki that took over the explanation, "when a shaman becomes the shaman king… they are gradually destroyed by the great spirit so the same person can't be shaman king twice… but because it gradually destroys them, nearing the end of their time as shaman king… the power of the great spirit is guided by the heart of the king instead of their will.

Now you see, Hao still hated humans, but he also wanted to keep his promise to his brother… these conflicting emotions brought about the birth of a being of unimaginable power.

It was known as the Jūbi.

The Jūbi started to rampage, and in an attempt to stop it… every shaman from all over the globe took up arms and attacked the beast.

(sigh) it slaughtered them all… however the beast was made to destroy humans and as such, it's reiyoku and furyoku levels were quite small, but it made up for them with a new power, the one you call chakra.

Our last master gave us our mission before leaving to fight the beast, and just like everyone else… he too was killed.

The humans hid but even then, most of their technology was lost and many died from what you now call chakra poisoning."

Imari continued the story "you see, the Jūbi's power was constantly overflowing and some individual's only received minor chakra poisoning and eventually… the human race had developed their own version of the power. One man learned how to harness that power… he is now known only as the Rikudo Sennin.

Eventually he discovered a way to stop the beast… he sealed it inside himself and on his deathbed… he split it into nine pieces… the current Bijū."

"Hold on just a minute! Are you saying that the Kyūbi was just a PORTION of that monsters power!?" Kushina shouted in shock, after all, the Kyūbi had appeared to be unstoppable, the idea of something even stronger was frightening.

"Indeed, the Kyūbi only possessed 1/5 of the Jūbi's power(3), so I take it you now understand why no-one could defeat the beast," Shigaraki stated calmly.

"…"

"Regardless of the history lesson… you still have nearly two hours to learn more, so let's just start with the basics… drawing out your furyoku," Imari stated, breaking the seven year old out of the stupor he had been stuck in after the story, "the first thing you need to do is meditate… so sit down, cross your legs and relax."

Naruto quickly did as instructed… well except for relax, he simply found he couldn't.

"I can't do it," he finally said after 10 minutes of trying.

"In the past there were monks who would just sit down like that and focus on the feeling of breathing deeply through your nostrils… try focusing on the cooling sensation as you breath in and the warming sensation as you breathe out,(3)" Shigaraki told the boy.

Still in his seated position, Naruto started t breathe deeply, focusing on the sensations that assaulted his nose. He couldn't believe just how… good it felt to savour your breath, of course what he didn't realise was how relaxed he had managed to become.

"Good now try to feel your furyoku, the feeling should be… unique and unmistakable," Shigaraki stated.

After nearly an hour of meditation, Naruto had finally managed to feel his furyoku and draw upon it… however.

"What do ya mean it isn't just furyoku!"

"The energy you have pulled upon is about 95% furyoku, however that 5% that isn't is chakra… to put it simply, your O.S's will be visible to a normal humans," Imari informed him calmly.

"Is that good or bad?"

"That depends entirely on your style of combat, for example, one of our former masters used our shapeshifting abilities to confuse his opponents, while others would benefit from surprise attacks," Shigaraki explained.

"Now, since we still have another half hour before you must leave for the academy, you can learn how to use a shamanic technique called 'Hyōi Gattai'," Imari started only to get interrupted by a certain concerned mother.

"Hold on just a minute… are you trying to tell me that it takes less than half an hour to learn this shaman jutsu?" Kushina asked, earning a nod off both the Yamagi, "doesn't that seem a little too easy?"

"Learning a shamanic technique is easy… however a shamans skill isn't judged by the number of techniques they possess, but rather, their skill at using the techniques they know. You see a ninja will learn a large number of techniques with a set form, a shaman however will learn a small number of techniques that have MANY forms and applications, for example, with Hyōi Gattai you could let a ninja take control of your body to fight a much stronger opponent OR you could use a medic to save a person's life etc," Imari explained.

"Let me see if I understand this right… Naru-chan will learn these techniques very quickly, but will have to spend a lot of time mastering them."

"Exactly."

"So… how do I do Hyōi Gattai?" the blond asked wondering if the older beings would ever stop talking and actually teach him.

"Draw on your furyoku and give it to Kushina-san," Imari stated.

Naruto did as he was told and much to his surprise, the floating red ball suddenly appeared in his hand.

"The next step is to merge Kushina-san with yourself," the kitsune claimed.

"…"

"She means shove Kushina into your chest," the red Tanuki stated, snapping Naruto out of his confusion and making him do exactly as instructed.

"Did it work?" the seven year old asked in a clear combination of both his own and his mother's voice.

"Naruto-sama, please relax and make no attempt at doing anything," Imari asked politely, "Kushina-san, would you please attempt to do… something."

"Umm… let's see… I know!" Naruto/Kushina said before starting to channel chakra to their feet and successfully walking up the wall, "Yeah it worked! ARRGGH" the duo said before suddenly crashing to the floor.

"I told you that the technique would be quick to learn… however in order to effectively use it in battle, either the shaman or spirit MUST be in control OR they must be acting in sync," Imari told the blond.

"What Imari means by sync is that both you and the spirit are acting as one instead of as a driver and passenger," Shigaraki explained to the child as Kushina ejected herself from the blond.

"Uh… wouldn't it be easier to just let the spirit take control instead of trying to do the same thing?" Naruto asked slightly confused by the pointlessness of the second method.

"It is… however, in order to allow the spirit to take control of your body, you must relax and let your body… go with the flow, but doing so means that your muscles won't tense as much as they normally would and as a result, although you gain ALL the skill of the spirit, you also become slower and you will hit lighter," the Tanuki further explained.

"Well that makes sense… anyway, I think we should stop training for now, Naru-chan needs to get ready for the academy," the red orb stated as she continued to float around the room.

"Very well then… however we will be going to the academy with you," the bleached kitsune informed them.

"And just so you know, from now on, you will be getting up at five o'clock every morning and will train until seven, at which point you will have a half hour break to either get ready for the academy or prepare for the rest of the day if the academy is closed," the blood red spirit told him.

"What will training be like?" the blond asked curiously.

"In the morning you will meditate for about an hour or so before learning a new technique or improving on one you already know. After the academy, you will be training your body for three hours before you get something to eat after which you will perform an hour of personal study before going to bed.

During your time at the academy, you will be learning how to be a ninja with Kushina-san's help, or practicing anything you need to when the academy isn't teaching anything you don't already know," Shigaraki explained.

"Uh… how am I supposed to practice things in the middle of the academy?"

"How long did you spend in class yesterday?"

"Uh… about an hour," Naruto claimed while looking downcast.

"Exactly… your teacher is picking on you and will probably send you out on a regular basis, so we will make the most of that lack of supervision," Imari told him, earning a look of joy on the blonds face before he remembered he had to get ready, and started rushing around to do everything he needed to.

"I can't wait to see everyone's faces when they find out the Yondaime's my dad," Naruto quietly said to himself as he was packing.

"You are NOT to tell anyone except the Hokage that you know that!" Kushina ordered sternly.

"WHAT! Why not?!"

"Because if it gets out that your Minato's kid, you will have Iwa, Kumo and half the council trying to kill you for it."

"Huh? Why?"

"Your father killed countless Iwa and Kumo nins during the last shinobi war and when he became Hokage he went against most of the civilian council due to it being filled with corrupt merchants, so he made several powerful enemies within the village as well as outside it," she explained to the dumbstruck blond.

Just over an hour later we find him sitting outside the classroom after being thrown out for 'disrupting' the class… again.

Fortunately though, the class was only being taught about what chakra was, something Neko had taught him when he was five, like she had with maths and Japanese, so he wasn't missing anything, which meant he could learn more about shamanism.

He was happy he had decided to strap his oracle bell to his left forearm (hidden under his jumpsuit) before he left his apartment earlier and was currently trying to figure out how to measure his furyoku level.

"Dammit! Hey Imari, do you know how to use this thing?" he whispered when he couldn't figure it out.

"Indeed," the white kitsune said before showing him how to use the object to measure furyoku and reiyoku.

"Um is 43,000 good?" he asked not really knowing how much was a lot of furyoku.

"For someone who only just started their shaman training less than two hours ago… it is impossibly high," the female spirit stated with a small amount of shock noticeable.

"Kid… there were highly experienced shaman with less than a tenth of your furyoku… if yours is that high now, given 20years you might actually have as much as Hao himself," Shigaraki expanded for the youth.

"Wow…" Naruto said quietly, before pointing the oracle bell towards the blood red Tanuki, "reiyoku level… 10,000… does that mean it will take 10,000 furyoku to O.S you?"

"That's not quite how it works… if your furyoku is lower than the reiyoku of a spirit, then you cannot control it. In order to make a good O.S for me or Imari, you will have to use at least 10,000 furyoku in it, however, you could use as little as 1,000… but the O.S would be unstable and very weak. You could also use up to 20,000 furyoku for an O.S and the result would be more stable and much stronger," the spirit explained.

"Does that mean both you and Imari have the same reiyoku levels?"

"Indeed we do," the white fox responded.

After that short explanation, Naruto turned the bell to his mothers floating form before measuring her reiyoku level, "Uh… why is mom's only 73?"

"There are three classes of spirit… Human, Seirei and Kami.

Your mother is currently a human class spirit, the weakest of them all, while we are Seirei class spirits. It is possible for human spirits to ascend to Seirei class by losing their ego's and letting go of all attachments to the living… but that usually takes over 500 years, though the time taken does depend solely on the spirit itself. For example, Kushina-san could potentially reach Seirei class in a couple of years, but there is also the possibility that she will never reach that level," Imari explained.

"Uh… can you two ever reach Kami-class?" Kushina asked.

"No, it is impossible to reach Kami-class… as a rule, all Kami-class spirits are born Kami-class," Shigaraki informed them.

"What's the reiyoku level of a Kami-class spirit?" Naruto asked wondering how much stronger he would have to get to control one.

"At least 100,000," the fox stated.

"…"

"So if I can increase my furyoku to about three times what it is, I can control weak Kami-class spirits?" Naruto stated/asked.

"Yes, you would be capable of controlling, weak Kami-class spirits, however most Kami-class have reiyoku levels exceeding 300,000 so you will have to get about ten times stronger if you want to use a higher level Kami," the white spirit informed him.

"What does the spirits class do to an O.S?" the blond child asked.

"To put it simply… human class spirits are much less flexible than seirei class spirits and therefore make less useful O.S's," Imari stated.

"If that's the case… would it be possible for you two to teach me how to reach Seirei class?" the floating orb asked.

"We could attempt to teach you how to let go of the emotions that stop you from ascending, however we cannot guarantee that you will succeed," the red Yamagi informed her.

"That's all I ask for."

"Very well then, while Naruto-sama is sleeping, we will train you to be a better spirit," Imari stated, "now Naruto-sama, I believe you would benefit from using this time to practice Hyōi Gattai."

"Alright then," and with that said, he gave some furyoku to Kushina before once again merging with her, "so should we just meditate or something?"

"Indeed, learn each other's rhythms so you can learn to work together," the white kitsune stated.

While that was going on, no one noticed the single ANBU eavesdropping on the entire conversation.

"_I should inform the Hokage of this development… that is definitely not the boy's normal voice and if I understand correctly, the child might be communicating with the Kyūbi," _the masked ninja thought to himself before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

After another day of getting his ass handed to him, this time by Kiba, Naruto did as Imari and Shigaraki instructed and made his way to one of the many training grounds around Konoha.

"Alright Naruto-sama, from your display at the academy it is obvious that your taijutsu is far below average and we intend on changing that," Imari stated calmly, before her form began to morph.

When the kitsune's form stopped changing, Naruto was surprised to be looking… at himself?

"Huh?" was his confused response.

"We have the ability to change our shape at will and right now, I am taking this form in order to give you a training partner."

"Oh… now I get it!" he said after processing the statement.

"Indeed… now use Hyōi Gattai with Kushina-san and we will spar for the next three hours."

"Wait! I thought I was supposed to learn how to fight?"

"And you will, however you will learn not by practicing forms constantly, but by having Kushina build your muscle memory," Shigaraki informed him from the side.

"Oh… muscle memory's that thing were you do something without thinking about it isn't it?" Naruto half stated and asked the Yamagi, who gave an affirmative nod.

"Alright then! Let's do this!" the blond shouted before slamming the red orb into his chest again.

"I see thank you for telling me Suzume, you are dismissed," an old man wearing white and red robes told the ANBU before said ANBU disappeared with a 'hai Hokage-sama'.

"_Naruto… I do hope you aren't talking with the Kyūbi, however, Suzume did say that you appeared to be talking to multiple individuals, I just hope everything will be cleared up when we talk next," _the Hokage thought as he looked out over the village.

"Inu… bring Naruto here," the aged leader said, before the dog masked ANBU appeared before him and disappeared with a 'hai Hokage-sama'.

"ANOTHER BOWL PLEASE AYAME-NEECHAN!"

Imari and Shigaraki were watching in horror as their new master devoured his 12th bowl of noodles, and were beginning to wonder if the child stomach existed in another dimension because of how much the boy was eating.

"See, I told you he's a bottomless pit when it comes to ramen," Kushina stated in amusement.

"We can see that now…"

"Yeah, but I think we should let him eat ramen, it does give a lot of energy and as long as we make sure he gets all the correct vitamins and minerals, it won't do him any harm," Shigaraki said.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself," a familiar voice called from the door.

"Inu-Niisan!" the young blond shouted as he turned around to see one of his brother figures walk into the stand.

"I'm sorry for cutting your meal short… but Hokage-sama wishes to speak with your about something," the ANBU stated calmly as he lightly ruffled the blonds' hair.

"Ok, I needed to speak to him anyway," Naruto responded, before placing some money on the counter and walking out of the stand with the ninja while Imari, Shigaraki and Kushina followed.

"Are you certain we can trust this man?" Shigaraki asked the floating orb.

"Yep… he was my husband's student after all."

"I see… then we will trust him, until he decides to break that trust," Imari finished off.

"Hey Oji-san, what do you want?" the blond asked as he was escorted into the Hokages office.

"Hello Naruto-kun… ANBU please leave," and with that one sentence, the only people left in the Hokages office were him and Naruto.

The Hokage then touched a seal on his desk, which caused a small blue glimmer to appear on each wall, window and the only door, "one of my ANBU noticed you talking to yourself outside the classroom today… who were you talking too?"

"Naru-chan… I think I know where this is going," Kushina stated as she quickly realised why the Hokage was concerned, "the day you were born, the Kyūbi attacked Konoha and, long story short, in order to stop it, your father had to sacrifice his soul to seal it inside you…" she quickly informed him, bringing visible shock to his features, "the Hokage must be worried that your being influenced by it."

"I-I-I'm t-t-the K-K-Kyūbi," Naruto muttered in shock at the revalation.

"NO!" both Kushina and the Hokage shouted, "you are just the jailor/who told you such nonsense?" they said together.

"I'm just the jailor?" Naruto asked, earning a 'yes' from his mother and a VERY confused stare off the Hokage.

"Naruto? Are you feeling alright?" the old man asked in concern.

"Naruto-sama, if I'm right then simply doing the first portion of Hyōi Gattai will allow Sarutobi to see and hear your mother," Imari informed the blond, who quickly gave some furyoku to the floating orb, bursting it into existence and startling the Hokage.

"Can you hear me Sarutobi?" Kushina asked from her position in her sons hand.

"What are you?!" the alarmed leader demanded.

"From what we can tell… a ghost," came her reply.

"A ghost?"

"Yeah… oh and by the way… WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TELL NARU-CHAN THAT I WAS A HALLUCINATION?!" she screamed almost knocking the aged Kage down with the sheer anger contained in the tone.

Narrowing his eyes, the Hokage made his retort, "and why are you trying to influence him?"

"Please… what sort of mother would I be if I didn't try to influence my own son?"

"… Kushina?"

"So you lied to me… you said you didn't know who my parent were and now you go and call my mom by her name…" Naruto started as his eyes began to tear up at the reality.

"Naru-chan… don't be so hard on him, he lied to you for the same reason I told you not to tell anyone who your father was… to protect you," the crimson sphere told him, dismissing some of his sadness.

"Naruto-kun… may I ask how you learned to do what you are currently doing?"

"He met a couple of Yamagi last night… they have started teaching him to use special techniques that only those who can see spirits can use," Kushina explained to the hokage.

"And he can already use one of them?!"

"As the Yamagi explained… the jutsu they will be teaching Naru-chan are easy to learn, but hard to master."

"I see… well this has been most informative… is there anything else you wish to tell me?"

"How about Naru-chan's instructor at the academy and how he ALWAYS throws Naru-chan out for no reason… or always pitches him against the strongest taijutsu fighters in the class," the ghost said, earning a decent amount of anger from the man once known as 'Shinobi no Kami'.

"I see… I will be sure to get Naruto-kun's instructor changed and to punish the one who thinks it will be a good idea to sabotage an aspiring shinobi's chances," the old man stated, "now is that everything?" he asked, earning nods off both the boy and the ball, "then I'll let you go home… I hope you can forgive me Naruto-kun."

"I'm a little angry that you lied to me… I mean why couldn't you have told me that you knew who they were but couldn't tell me?"

"I guess I was just too afraid."

"(sigh) fine then… I'll see you later Oji-san," Naruto said as he let Kushina disperse and walked to the door.

"Yes… I'll see you later Naruto-kun."

(1) From now on I will be using O.S to refer to oversouls

(2) spirit integration

(3) in this fic, each tail possess a set amount of chakra, so add up all the tails of all the bijū, and you get 45, the Kyūbi has nine of them so 9/45 = 1/5

(4) I got this from a Buddhist monk that visited my high school for a day… and it does work


	3. Chapter 3

"(Yawn) well that was tiring… time for bed!" Naruto almost shouted when he arrived at his apartment after his conversation with the Hokage.

"No! You still have half an hour of personal studying to do!" Imari ordered him, earning a disbelieving gaze off the blond bundle of sunshine.

"WHAT! But," the blond started only to get cut off by the white kitsune.

"Calm down, personal study can be things as simple as practicing calligraphy or as complicated as trying to learn the Cho-Senjiryakketsu."

"The Cho what?"

"The Cho-Senjiryakketsu, a book containing all the shamanic knowledge Asakura Hao gathered during his first life," Shigaraki informed the blond.

"Wow…CAN I READ IT PLEASE!" the child shouted as he began to grovel at the spirits feet.

"Naruto-sama… the Cho-Senjiryakketsu is yours, we have no right to stop you from reading it," and in the blink of an eye, the whiskered blond had vanished and reappeared at the chest containing the relics.

As he looked through the box for the 'awesome book that can make me super strong', he pulled out a strange device that consisted of a rectangular box with a small, diamond shaped crystal attached to some thick string. There were also a pair of straps attached to the box.

"Hey… what's this?"

"That is a dowsing pendulum, we will eventually teach you how to dowse but until then… it is useless to you," Imari informed him.

"Oh… okay," and with that the young boy continued to search through the contents of the chest before pulling out a large, leather bound book with the words 'Cho-Senjiryakketsu' on the cover.

For the next half hour, Naruto proceeded to study the large tome and pick out anything that sounded useful (or cool), before Imari finally told him that he was allowed to sleep.

xxx

"Ow!" came the short yelp as Shigaraki jumped on the blond at 5 o'clock, "hey what was that for?!"

"To wake you up… plus it was fun," the red spirit responded as Naruto got up while complaining about evil spirits.

"Remember, first hour is meditation," the white Yamagi stated, causing the blond to sit down and start focusing on the sensations of his breathing. After half an hour of focusing on the flow of his furyoku and chakra, he proceeded to attempt focusing outwards in an attempt to see if he could sense the chakra or furyoku of others.

By the time the hour was up, he had managed to detect the presence of others furyoku and chakra, but was unable to identify where or how far away they were, just that they were there.

"Meditation is over… I think it is time to teach you the basics of O.S's," Imari stated at six.

"Hai Imari-sensei."

"I'll explain," Shigaraki stated, earning a small glare off the kitsune, "it's the same as Hyōi Gattai, except you shove the spirit into an item while imagining what the result will look like… however a spirit will usually have a subconscious picture of what they will be, so don't expect Kushina to turn out how you expect."

"Okay… um, will this do?" the boy asked as he pulled out a blunted training kunai.

"Anything will do," Imari claimed still throwing a bit of a glare at the Tanuki.

"Uh… what do you think I should think of?"

"How about a scythe? I always liked scythes," the small red blob said confusing the small boy, "what? They're so uncommon that people rarely know how to fight someone who's good with one, well unless they have experience with Jashinists."

"Jashinists?"

"A group of religious nutjobs that follow the god of carnage Jashin, they usually use scythes… and a strange curse thing," the red orb explained.

"A curse?" Imari asked in curiosity.

"Yeah… they draw a symbol on the ground with blood, before stepping in it and licking their enemies blood… somehow it links the victim to the Jashinist and any injury the Jashinist gets, the victim does too… I remember hearing about them attempting to make someone immortal so they could kill that way, but I don't know if they ever succeeded," Kushina informed the mountain spirits.

"I see… it is definitely beyond the capabilities of chakra, however it is possible that some people accidentally discovered how to curse others without knowing how it works… regardless, if there are people who can use curse's, we should eventually teach Naruto-sama how to use curse reflection," Imari muttered to herself.

"Curse reflection?" the blond asked in confusion.

"We'll teach you later, for now let's stick with O.S's, now will you please start."

"Alright, here it goes," and with that, Naruto transferred some furyoku into his mother before visualising a scythe and slamming the orb into the training kunai.

The result was… strange.

A large, clear, red blob with a pair of eyes and a mouth was located around Naruto's hand, while a large pole consisting of the same substance was impaled through the point the ears would be, with a large blade like protrusion appearing perpendicular to the rod gave the appearance of a scythe… if it wasn't for the large amount of flowing and inconsistency in the apparition.

"Not bad for a first attempt at that level of difficulty, had you been using an actual scythe as a medium you would probably made a much better O.S," the white kitsune stated calmly upon examining the apparition.

"Huh? But it doesn't look that good," the blond claimed, with his mother agreeing.

"True… however forming an O.S that is completely different from the medium is one of the more difficult things to do, especially with a human spirit, since their subconscious visualisation of themselves can interfere with the form of the O.S."

"But we can get better at it, right?" Naruto asked.

"Indeed… Asakura Yoh advanced his O.S three times before Hao became shaman king… to put it simply Yoh used four different O.S's during the last shaman king tournament," the feminine spirit informed them.

"So… as we get better at the visualisation, we can begin to produce more complex O.S's?" Kushina stated questioningly.

"That is exactly it."

"Uh… how do we get better at visualisation?" the blond shaman asked.

"Practice and imagination," Shigaraki said simply.

"Oh… ok then. How do you think I'd do with you guys?"

"You would probably do a lot better, since you've already seen our typical O.S's and we are shapeshifters by nature, so we don't have any subconscious visualisations of ourselves to interfere with the visualisation in the first place," Imari explained.

"Then would it be okay for me to try O.S one of you?"

"Of course Naruto-sama," Imari said before her form dissipated, revealing a small white orb with a face similar to the kitsune's, before a small pebble hit the floor.

"Huh? What's that?" the blond asked as he picked up the object.

"That is a pebble from the mountain we came from, it has also been used as my medium since we allied with the Asakura family," the white Yamagi told the boy.

"Okay..." and with that word, Naruto let Kushina's O.S dissolve, leaving him with the blunted kunai, before pocketing it, "well I hope this works right," he muttered to himself before giving a large amount of furyoku to the spirit, visualising the form she had just been in and slamming the orb into the pebble.

The result was almost perfect, just a small amount of inconsistency that was easily corrected by the experienced spirit.

"Is that really how big a difference reaching serei class can make to the difficulty of an O.S?" Kushina asked after seeing how easy it was for Naruto to make Imari's O.S.

"Yes… as we've said before, human spirits don't have the flexibility of serei spirits and that can have adverse effects on the O.S."

"Then I really need to achieve serei class if I want to be of any use to Naru-chan," the red orb said with determination in its eyes.

"As we said before, we will teach you how to ascend, but it will take time for you to achieve the state of mind that is required to ascend."

"Well talking can wait, Naruto needs to get ready for the academy," Shigaraki claimed, causing everyone to look at the clock and see that their scheduled training session was over.

XXX

It felt weird to Naruto when he walked along the street with three orbs following him instead of one, but as Imari had stated 'we only stayed O.S'ed so that we could help you, now that you can create your own O.S we don't need to stay like that… plus your O.S's can be seen and we don't need people to ask questions yet'.

When he finally arrived at the academy and made his way to his classroom, he was surprised to see a new face sitting at the front of the room where the teacher normally sat.

The man was about 18years old, with black hair tied into a pineapple like style, while a large horizontal scar was located across his nose. He wore the typical Konoha Chūnin attire with his hitae-ate located on his forehead.

Deciding to stay quiet, Naruto quickly ignored the new person and made his way to the back of the room before waiting for the rest of the class to arrive.

'So that's the Kyūbi's jinchūriki… hopefully Hokage-sama's right about him being a good kid,' the scarred man thought to himself as he studied the blond.

It didn't take long for the rest of the class to show up and each time a new student entered, Naruto noticed the man give each of them the same look he had given him.

"Well, it seems like this new teacher doesn't think of you any differently than the others," Kushina said as she observed the scarred man. Naruto would have answered, but decided against it because he didn't want people thinking that he talked to himself (or Kyūbi).

When everyone had finally arrived, the man at the front of the class introduced himself as Umino Iruka, and that he would be taking over as their new Chūnin instructor.

The class passed slowly, as the Chūnin drawled on about the theory of chakra for two hours straight… something Naruto thought was impossible till that day, afterall Neko had only needed ten minutes to give him a complete understanding of what chakra was.

The blond was relieved when lunch came and was about to leave the classroom when the new sensei called out, "Naruto, I need to have a quick chat with you."

Waiting until the rest of the class had left, Iruka said his concerns.

"Naruto, I noticed that you weren't paying any attention during class, don't you want to become a shinobi?"

"Of course I want to become a shinobi! But I just don't understand how you could take two whole hours to explain what chakra is, it only took Neko-chan ten minutes when I was younger," the young blond told the man.

"Neko-chan?" the black haired man said questioningly.

"One of those masked people who helped me every now and then… she taught me to read, write and even taught me how to draw on my chakra."

"You can already draw on your chakra?"

"Yeah."

"I see… regardless, I want you to pay attention in class okay."

"But why? All your doing is wasting time over explaining things, I don't see why you can't just give a quick explanation and then let us practice, helping us whenever we need it?" Naruto said giving his opinions to the new instructor.

"(sigh) I know, I don't like it either, but this is the method the headmaster has told us to use and I'm not allowed to disobey him, so please, just pay attention in class okay," the pineapple headed man said with a small smile.

"So you don't like it either?"

"Of course not… knowing what chakra is doesn't help you on the field, being able to use it does… besides, do you know how hard it is to take two hours to explain what chakra is? Anyway, I've kept you long enough, go and get something to eat, it's practical education next," the teacher said while shooing the blond out of the classroom.

XXX

The practical portion of the academy was much better this time, everyone was given the same chance by having to fight Iruka, who made sure to keep to a level similar to the students.

Of course, since Naruto wasn't beaten to a pulp and forced to spend more time in the nurses office, he got a chance to practice both kunai and shuriken throwing… which he wasn't particularly good at, before doing some balancing and survival exercises (which revolved around starting a fire).

By the time the class had their second classroom session, Naruto was definitely happy that the new teacher treated him like any other pupil.

Of course the second classroom lesson was even MORE boring than the first, as it revolved around history… the useless history.

When the class had finished, Naruto decided to make a request to the Yamagi.

"Hey Imari, Shigaraki, can I do something before physical training?" he asked as soon as he was certain that no one else was within hearing distance.

"What is it you wish to do?" the white orb asked suspiciously.

"Talk with Oji-san about the academy."

"I'm happy with that, what about you Imari?" Shigaraki, who was currently a red orb with a conical hat and long snout replied.

"Very well, but be quick."

"Thanks!"

XXX

The Hokage was currently thinking over several things, including how to get through more paperwork and give himself some free time, before his door was flung open and a young, whiskered blond entered like he owned the place.

"Hello Naruto-kun, how can I help you today?" he asked, surprised to see the boy after last night.

"Hey Oji-san… I just wanted to tell you the academy sucks," the blond said seriously.

"(sigh) Naruto, the academy does what it has to, to ensure the future generation will survive," the old man explained.

"Then why do we get a two hour lecture on chakra, when we could just get a ten minute talk and spend the rest of the time learning to draw it with the teacher supervising?" Naruto asked, earning a confused expression from the aged leader.

"A two hour lecture on chakra?"

"Ask Iruka-sensei about it."

"I wish I could Naruto-kun, but I simply don't have the time with all this paperwork," the Hokage told him while pointing towards the towering stack of papers on his desk.

"You know… Minato-kun just made kage bunshin do the work for him, he always joked that they were called Kage bunshin because they were the bunshin made for a Kage's paperwork," Kushina said, though the Hokage didn't hear her.

"Uh… Oji-san, what's Kage bunshin?" Naruto asked after listening to his mothers words.

"Where did you hear about that jutsu Naruto?"

"Kaasan just said dad used to joke it was called Kage bunshin because it was made to help a kage with paperwork," he explained and after a couple of seconds, the old man began to hit his head off his desk.

"Alright Naruto-kun, I'll talk with Iruka about the curriculum and Kushina… thank you," Sarutobi said gratefully.

"Uhh… you're welcome," she said, a little shocked at the display before her.

"She said you're welcome," and with those last words, the young blond left the room and just a few minutes later, the hokage left the office with three kage bunshin working through the forms.

XXX

Following the same physical training schedule as before, the blond was grateful that his new sensei's didn't disapprove of his ramen consumption, allowing him to down 17 bowls of the delicious noodles.

Arriving at his apartment, he decided to have another quick look through the contents of the chest, removing everything and seeing exactly what he had inherited.

There were several photographs, depicting what he could only assume was an old family of shaman's, though there seemed to be four main groups.

"Those are photo's taken back during and just after the last shaman king tournament, back when the Asakura's and Tao's made their alliance," Imari told him as he looked at the many different people in the pictures.

"Who are these people?" Naruto asked as he picked up a photo of a group that were all dressed in the same attire. It consisted of large multilayered cloaks with a coloured rectangle on the front, with a large ornamental slab of metal acting as a buckle at the top of the cloak. The people also wore a headband with several feathers attached to the piece of clothing.

"They are the Patch tribe."

"Aren't they the people that hosted the shaman king tournament?"

"Yes."

"They dress weird."

"Those are called ceremonial robes Naruto-sama."

"Huh? What're ceremonial robes?"

"They are clothes worn during ceremonies… similar to those hokage robes that the old man wears.." Imari explained.

"They're also good for dealing with all sorts of weather," Shigaraki added.

"Really?"

"Yep," the red Tanuki said quickly.

Deciding to look at more of the photo's, the young blond couldn't help but notice something that seemed unusual to him.

"Hey Shigaraki, why are they wearing different clothes in each photo?"

"It's a little thing that isn't really done anymore, but at that time most people had casual clothes, work clothes and formal clothes."

"Huh? Why not just wear the same types of clothes all the time?" Naruto asked, after all, he didn't know of a single shinobi that wasn't ANBU that wore different clothes off duty.

"(sigh) Naruto-sama, some clothes are more comfortable than others, so lots of people wore the clothes that were either comfortable or cool when not at work back in that time… shaman also tended to have combat uniforms for their fights in the shaman king tournament," the conical orb explained.

"Oh… okay then," the blond said, letting the spirits know he understood, before going over the contents of the chest again.

The next thing to pique his interest was a set of three small stone tablets with a single kanji written on them.

"What are these?" he asked pointing at the stones.

"Those Naruto-sama, contain the spirits of Morphine, Kouki and Zenki, you should avoid them for now, since we don't know which tablet contains which spirit," Imari informed him as he looked at the slabs.

Deciding to listen to the Yamagi, he continued to look at the contents of the box, eventually setting his gaze on a couple of strange artefacts.

One was a strange, red stone, shaped like a kunai, but slightly bigger, while the other was a short stick with tapered ends and several marking etched into its length.

"What are these?"

"Those are special objects, that are much greater than other items when acting as a medium for an O.S, they are called the Futsu-no-Mitama no Tsurugi, an object that was kept in the possession of the Asakura family since before Hao was born, and the other is called an Ikupasuy, a stick that is supposed to provide a link to Kami in Ainu tradition, before you ask, the Ainu were a race of people that existed a long time ago," the white kitsune spirit told him.

"So they're really cool," the blond claimed happily.

"(sigh) yes, they are really cool," Imari said in an attempt at avoiding a headache.

It was then that Naruto looked at the clock and realised that he had about 40minutes to kill, so he put the photos and stone tablets back, before going to read the Cho-Senjiryakketsu again.

XXX

The rest of the week passed without much change from the normal routine, though the blond was making progress with Kushina's O.S, it wasn't getting more complicated, just more defined. His skill at sensing furyoku and chakra was improving as well, with him now capable of identifying the rough direction it was located (rough being 120 o) but he still had no clue as to the distance it was from him. His physical strength was increasing as well thanks to his physical training sessions, while he was beginning to achieve some muscle memory from his mothers constant possession.

He had not been taught any new techniques and was instead, made to focus on improving his O.S and Hyōi Gattai.

He had checked his furyoku level on his oracle bell again, wondering what his improved knowledge had done to his furyoku levels and was surprised to see that they had increased to 47,000 after just one week.

He had been told by Imari that today they would begin to teach him Onmyōji magic, starting with the simplest of techniques… Ko-Oni Strike.

XXX

"I still don't understand why I need leaves for this," Naruto grumbled as he looked at the Yamagi expectantly, while a group of leaves lay between them.

"It is simple… before now you have been using furyoku to bind a specific spirit with an object, be it a weapon or yourself, however the Ko-Oni strike uses furyoku to animate objects by using spirits already found within them to create shinigami. Leaves are the easiest object to use for this purpose," Imari explained to the blond.

"Okay… so do I just give some furyoku to the leaves?"

"Not quite… you see if you did that then the leaves would act on their own and although some might assist you, others might actually attack you," the white kitsune informed him.

"So then how do I do it without them attacking me?"

"That is the difficult part… you must overpower its spirit with your will contained within your furyoku and force it into your service, the stronger the spirit is, the harder it will be to subdue… that is the method of control known as domination," the female Yamagi explained.

"Wait… if that's called domination then what have I been doing with you and kaasan?"

"What you have been doing with us is known as cooperation, you could attempt to dominate us… but the chances are that you wouldn't be very successful."

"Alright then… so how do I overpower the leaves?"

"Concentrate on controlling the leaves before and during the transfer of furyoku to the leaves, if your will is strong enough, you will be capable of controlling them. I would advise you to try controlling one at a time… we don't want you messing up and having to fend off a hundred angry leaves now do we?"

"HEY! I'm not that weak!" the blond shouted indignantly.

"I'm not saying you're weak… I have seen a single leaf kill people with MORE power and influence than the current daimyo's combined," the white kitsune stated seriously.

"Wait! What?!

"Do you understand? I'm saying that leaves are more dangerous than you might think."

"Plus they can be nimble little bastards," Shigaraki decided to add his two cents, before getting hit by an infuriated mother.

"Do… Not… Swear… Around… My… Sochi!" she said with murder in her eyes.

Deciding to NOT get distracted by his mother and Shigaraki, Naruto started concentrating on controlling a leaf, before sending a small amount of furyoku into the leaf.

After sending the energy into the leaf, it gained a distinct blue outline with four prongs and a pair of beady yellow eyes.

Focusing on making the little floating critter move in a particular pattern, Naruto was pleasantly surprised to find it obeyed him with little to now effort.

After the initial success, Naruto proceeded to increase the number of shinigami he was using and quickly found himself strained to keep all of them in check at seven.

When the morning training session was over, Naruto let the shinigami disperse before pocketing some leaves and getting ready for the academy.

XXX

The academy had been a BIG improvement on the previous week.

It had turned out that the Hokage had talked with Iruka about the curriculum, before ORDERING changes to be made.

So all in all, today had been a good day for the young blond.

XXX

Two months passed by quickly and Naruto was progressing nicely.

His taijutsu was now on par with Sasuke's and Kiba's, his sensor ability had improved to the point that he could identify which direction (to within 10o) a signature was located and whether it was close, or far away.

He was now capable of getting Kushina's O.S to be smooth and consistent with only her head possessing any wildness to its form. His limit when controlling leaf spirits had increased to 16, which also proved to be VERY useful for target practice, increasing his skills with kunai and shuriken in the process.

Plus his furyoku had increased to 57,000.

He had continued reading the Cho-Senjiryakketsu in his personal study time, learning more about shamanism than he thought possible.

XXX

Naruto was excited, the academy was closing for a two week break and Imari and Shigaraki had told him that he would be going on a training trip this fortnight.

Of course the idea of going on a training trip immediately sparked the blonds' enthusiasm, though it had been dampened somewhat when they had informed him that he couldn't tell the hokage about it.

When he had questioned why, the spirits had simply said that the old man wouldn't let him go on his own… which was the whole point of the trip in the first place.

So it was with a heavy heart (and a written message left on his kitchen table) that the boy sneaked out of the village on the first night of the holidays, wondering what sort of training he would face under the ancient sprits.


	4. Chapter 4

"It's almost time to return to Konoha Naruto-sama," a small white orb stated as it floated next to the blond.

In the past couple of weeks the blond had improved more than he had over the past couple of months… mainly because he was actually being given the chance to… feel nature. For one, he was now capable of feeling the flow of furyoku within living creatures if they were less than ten feet away… while he could accurately judge the position of anything within two hundred feet of his current position, and detect the general direction of a person within a mile. His limit to how many shikigami he could control at any one time had increased from 16 to 37. His furyoku had also shot up to 73,000.

"Really? I guess I must have lost track of time…" replied a calm voice, as the blond sat on a ledge with one leg hanging off the sheer drop, looking out over a mountain range somewhere in Kaze no Kuni. He was wearing a specially tailored copy of the Patch tribe ceremonial robes that he had managed to get from an old woman in a deserted city in Hi no Kuni. There were a couple of differences though, such as the metal buckle that held it together being in the shape of a toad in honour of his father's contract with them, while the symbol of Konoha was etched into it. The coloured patch on the front was a deep crimson with the symbol of his mother's home village, Uzushiogakure no Sato, taking pride of place in the centre. However, the most important part of his attire was the bracelet that was currently wrapped around his right wrist, after all, from what his mom had said, it was a priceless family heirloom... and was going to be her new medium.

"I have to say… since you finally got a chance to undergo proper shaman training, you certainly have grown calmer," Shigaraki stated as the blond continued to gaze out over the mountain range.

"Yeah… anyway, I guess it's time to head back," the whiskered shaman stated before falling off the ledge.

He loved the feeling of weightlessness falling gave him, ever since Imari decided to throw him off a cliff one day after saying 'any decent shaman can come out of this exercise unscathed'… and he did.

He was surprisingly relaxed for someone that was falling several thousand feet… but then again, so where most shaman. That was one thing that the blond had learned, shaman had to keep a cool head if they wanted to become shaman king. And keeping a cool head was something he had managed to achieve quite quickly when he fell the first time.

Ignoring the waiting rock below, the blond simply enjoyed the feel of the wind blowing against him as he proceeded to close his eyes and enjoy the experience. Feeling the ground getting closer with each passing second, the blond started to concentrate his chakra into his hand, until just a couple of feet from the unforgiving ground, he released it all, halting his decent and allowing him to land on his feet, completely unconcerned by how close he had come to becoming a smear on the floor.

"You're regretting making do that exercise now aren't you fox?" Kushina asked the white Yamagi with a noticeable amount of hostility in her voice.

"Look Kushina-san, how many times do we have to go over this, I wouldn't have made him do that exercise if I didn't believe he could do it," the female kitsune stated.

"You still threw him off a cliff… he could've died if he hadn't figured out how to do that!" the still enraged mother almost shouted at the spirit.

"And unlike you, I have faith in Naruto-sama's skills."

"Imari… Kushina is Naruto's mother… mothers don't like to put their kids near the slightest risk, even if they believe in them," the red Tanuki intervened.

"Thank you Shigaraki," the human spirit said looking towards the spirit with the conical hat.

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side?" Imari said.

"I'm sitting on the fence with this one… although I think that exercise had to be done, I understand why Kushina is angry."

"Are you three going to stay there all day? Or are we going to head back to Konoha?" the young blond said as he walked into one of the country's world famous sandstorms… as it began to move around him.

"You know… I still can't believe he can do that," Kushina deadpanned.

"Neutralising the weather is a difficult skill, even for a skilled shaman… that's one of the reasons I was prepared to throw him off that cliff," the white kitsune claimed, causing Kushina to return her glare full force.

"I hate to break up the staring match… but Naruto's over that way," the red Tanuki informed them, causing them to stop glaring and rush off after the young blond.

XXX

Naruto had to admit… it was definitely easy to sneak into Konoha when you can sense both chakra and furyoku. Sure the detection barrier caused him to think of ways to evade it… until his mother told him the secret of not getting detected by it.

So here he was walking along the street, receiving stares of confusion… probably because of his attire, on his way to the Hokage's tower.

"Hey Ojisan," the young blond called calmly as he entered the Hokages office… before noticing the anger on the aged Kage's face.

"Would you like to explain to me why you left the village without telling me first?" the old man asked in a serious tone.

"Look Ojisan… if I had told you, you would've sent someone to 'babysit' me."

"And what exactly is the problem there?"

"(sigh) would a babysitter let me get thrown off a cliff?" the blond deadpanned.

"WHAT!"

"That was one of the training exercises I did out there, trust me when I say this, travelling as nothing more than a shaman and his ghosts has made me a LOT stronger," the blond explained.

"And what if you had failed that exercise?!"

"You know, you're beginning to sound like mom."

"And the problem with that is what?"

"I get enough trouble off one, I don't need another."

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" a certain red blob shouted indignantly.

"You were thrown off a cliff…" Sarutobi stated blankly.

"Yes… and now I jump off them to relax."

"Despite how much it annoys us," Imari claimed.

"You mean you and Kushina… it doesn't annoy me," Shigaraki corrected, earning a vicious glare off the kitsune, "I'll shut up now."

"Did I just hear you right? Did you just say that you jump off cliffs to relax?" the Hokage asked, hoping he heard wrong.

"Yep… you wouldn't believe just how amazing the feeling of weightlessness is when you aren't concerned about the landing," the blond stated with a serene smile gracing his lips.

"What other exercises were you put through?"

"Traversing Tokagero's river," the blond stated quickly.

"Tokagero's river?" the old Kage questioned.

"I don't know what it's actually called, but a spirit called Tokagero has been preserving it for over a thousand years… something about a friend wanting it to remain there forever," Naruto said calmly.

"How was traversing this river an exercise?"

"Tokagero is a royal pain in the ass,","NARUTO!","and keeps making flash floods to mess with travellers," Naruto explained, earning a shout from his mother halfway through it.

"So this 'Tokagero' spirit is malicious," Hiruzen muttered to himself.

"Nope… he just said, I quote 'Ryu had to deal with this shit, so I'm making sure everyone that tries to come near this river has to go through the same thing,' so to put it simply, Tokagero is very nostalgic," the blond corrected, earning a small sweatdrop from the village leader.

"(sigh) fine then… just please tell me the next time you intend on leaving the village," the old man finally said in defeat.

"As long as you don't send anyone to spy on me then fine… and just so you know, I'm now a sensor type, so you're ninja won't be able to hide from me," the young shaman claimed with a smile, "see ya later," and with a small wave, the blond left out the front door, leaving the old man to his little orange book, while a trio of bunshin took care of the paperwork.

XXX

Walking towards his apartment, the blond wasn't surprised when he saw the door broken down and the walls covered in graffiti.

"I guess it was a good thing I took the Cho-Senjiryakketsu with me huh," he said quietly as he walked through the torn apartment.

"I think we need to get you to a level where you can control Zenki and Kouki… then you can leave them here to protect your property when you leave the village," Imari stated as she looked around the room.

"I guess… but then again, Fūinjutsu could prove just as effective as a pair of Shikigami," the blond said as he started to sort through the rubble.

"If you use Hyōi Gattai with me I can set up a few security seals for you," Kushina said as she surveyed the damage and began calculating the cost of repairs, taking into account the increase simply for being Naruto.

"Yeah… I guess we should get that out of the way shouldn't we?" Naruto admitted, before taking control of about thirty leaves to clear away the rubbish littering his apartment.

XXX

With the help of the shikigami, it didn't take long to repair the apartment, and then secure it with Fūinjutsu.

So here he was, sitting in his favourite place to get something to eat, Ichiraku' Ramen.

"What's wrong Naruto? You aren't eating like you normally do," the middle aged owner asked as the blond savoured the delicious noodles.

"Nothing… I just learned to savour food on my trip," the blond said with a small smile.

"Well I hope it hasn't affected your appetite… we make more money off you than everyone else combined," the owner said, eliciting a smile from the carefree child.

"Don't worry, I just take longer to eat it… I'm still a bottomless pit for ramen… anyway, how's Ayame neechan?"

"She seems to be alright… if you don't count her constantly disappearing a problem," the chef claimed, drawing the blonds' attention.

"Do you have any idea what she might be doing?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I'm not sure… but I think she might have gotten herself a boyfriend," Teuchi said quietly.

"Is that a problem?"

"No… it's just the fact that she's keeping this guy a secret from me… it makes me worry about what type of person she's seeing," the father said as he let loose a long sigh.

"I see… oh well, nothing we can do about it," the young shaman said before continuing to eat his meal.

XXX

"Well that cost less than I expected," Naruto claimed as he walked out of a local clothing store with several bags of 'casual clothes'.

"I think the owner thought you were planning on going on mission with those on when you're older," Kushina said as she tried to get around the impracticality of her sons new wardrobe.

"It doesn't really matter why, we can always go back to Nekobaa if you need new 'work clothes', besides, I think they suit him," Imari said uncharacteristically casually.

The blonds' new wardrobe consisted of several brightly coloured button up shirts in a range of yellow to red, several white vests, knee length white shorts, several pairs of blue jeans and a few pairs of loose fitting sandals. Of course he was still wearing his 'Patch robes' at the time.

"So… are you going to do anything about Ayame?" the youngest of the spirits asked.

"…"

"…"

"Hey? Aren't you going to answer me?"

"Of course he isn't Kushina, we're in the middle of the street with who knows how many people around… do you really think he'll risk speaking with us when there are that many people around?" Shigaraki asked.

"Heheh… I kinda forgot about that," the red blob admitted, before she stopped talking and the group proceeded back to the blonds' apartment.

XXX

Naruto had to admit, following someone when you're a sensor is really quite easy. Being capable of following them from a good distance away was useful, especially when dealing with a civilian.

"You know, I'm glad you decided to spy on Ayame after all, it actually makes things interesting," Kushina claimed as she watched her son follow the ramen girl.

"I would rather be training right now… but Ayame is like a sister to me… I don't want her getting herself mixed in with the wrong crowd," the young blond said calmly as he continued to follow the young girls furyoku signature.

The shaman was surprised when she left the village for one of the woods within the walls… and even more so when she simply stopped in a small clearing with no other people for miles.

Approaching the clearing quietly, Naruto attempted to get close enough to see why she hadn't moved… and boy was he surprised when he got there.

In the clearing was a small pond surrounded by large leaves that seemed to thrive in the moist soil.

"Well, well, well… I didn't expect Fuki to still grow in this area," the Tanuki said.

"Huh? Fuki?" the blond asked completely lost by his companions sentence.

"Fuki are those leaves surrounding the pond... they tend to grow in moist climates, hence the reason why we didn't expect to see any in this region," Imari explained.

"However, the most important part for you to know is this, wherever Fuki grows, Koropokkuru appear," the red Yamagi claimed.

"Koropokkuru?"

"Nature spirits that live under fuki leaves," the white kitsune explained.

"So why is it important to know that they're here?" Kushina asked.

"Tell me… how many ninja's can create ice?" Shigaraki asked, causing both Naruto and Kushina to look at him in shock.

"So you mean to tell me that shaman can create ice?" Kushina questioned the red kitsune.

"With the correct spirit, a shaman can do just about anything," Imari claimed as she stared into the Fuki fields.

Following the kitsune's gaze, Naruto caught sight of the person he had followed there in the first place… his sister figure, Ayame, currently sitting with a peaceful expression on her face as she watched the Fuki sway in the breeze, while the surface of the water rippled and reflected the light of the setting sun.

"Hey Neechan, nice spot ya got here," the blond said as he walked up to her.

"Huh? Naruto? What are you doing here?" the young brunette asked as her gaze shifted targets.

"Teuchi-ojisan told me that you kept disappearing… he thinks you've got a boyfriend he wouldn't approve of," the young shaman told her as he sat down next to her and let his gaze fix on the clearing.

"Really? That doesn't explain why you're here."

"What? Isn't a little brother allowed to worry about his big sister?"

"So you followed me," the older girl said with a dangerous edge to her voice.

"Yeah… if you don't tell us what you're doing then is really that surprising that I decided to find out myself?"

"And invade my privacy!"

"Only when I'm concerned… you could of easily told Ojisan where you've been disappearing to and he wouldn't of worried about you, if he wasn't worried about you then I wouldn't have followed you."

"…"

"…"

"I'm going home," Ayame said as she stood up and began to slowly leave the clearing, before stalling just long enough to say "sorry," before she was gone.

"…"

"…"

"Hey, are there any Koropokkuru's here?" the blond asked when he was certain his 'sister' couldn't hear him.

Almost immediately Fuki leaves began to stir as six inch tall people began to poke their heads out from under the leaves and look at him with a questioning gaze.

"Hi… I'm Naruto, pleased ta meet'cha," he said happily.

XXX

Today was the day… after five years of classes, Naruto's year was finally about to graduate. The young blond had grown significantly since then, now possessing a furyoku level of 159,000 he was easily capable of creating O.S's without spending much furyoku… combined with his ability to control shikigami now extending into nearly a thousand, he was certainly a force to be reckoned with.

He had managed to dominate Zenki and Kouki a few years ago and they had proven to be very good… deterrents when he O.S'd them against a drunken mob on one of his birthdays.

He had also proven to be highly skilled at dowsing, which was only made easier with Morphine's help. Necromancy definitely wasn't his forte… he wasn't bad at it but he just wasn't as good at it as he was with everything else… he could still easily reanimate an entire graveyard but the combination of his lack of desire to do so and his lack of practice meant that he couldn't really do anymore.

However, Naruto's true strength lay in his… supplementary abilities. Fumon Tonkou, a technique whereby the user reads the flow of their enemies furyoku in order to predict their opponents next move, which combined with the fact that he was the only person that knew how to manipulate his furyoku, meant that he was NEVER caught off guard by a move… just the strength and speed of it. He had also managed to succeed in learning a technique known as furyoku nullification… which Imari claimed was practically useless in the world of shinobi… until he managed to adapt the technique into chakra nullification… making ranged jutsu almost useless against him.

As far as class went, Naruto was officially the rookie of the year, with taijutsu skills (combined with Fumon Tonkou) that let him defeat Iruka in taijutsu practice, a perfect henge and the ability to produce two perfect bunshin (not that anyone knew they were actually Imari and Shigaraki). Of course this status was barely held due to Uchiha Sasuke being capable of producing more perfect bunshin than him, but Naruto had proven himself vastly superior than the last of the royal Uchiha's when it came down to taijutsu, allowing him to keep the title.

Naruto wasn't the only one to improve either… thanks to Imari and Shigaraki's teachings and her own willingness, Kushina had managed to ascend to seirei class a couple of weeks ago resulting in her reiyoku level increasing to 1,100 and allowing the two to work on a more advanced O.S than before thanks to her no longer possessing a subconscious visualisation of herself. Of course, they were still working on the O.S but it was already significantly stronger than their previous one.

"Alright class, first it is the written portion of the exam… you have half an hour to answer all the questions, your time starts now," Iruka said, the tests already laying in front of the students. Naruto was just like always wearing an orange, short sleeved shirt with the chest open while one of his white vests hide his torso (he didn't want anyone to see 'that abominable seal') and his legs were covered in blue denim. He was currently sitting next to Sasuke, who was in turn sitting next to a window. It was more out of pity than anything else, because the dark haired boy had suffered enough having to watch his family get slaughtered by his older brother… he didn't need to suffer constant attacks by fangirls… that and it also reduced the chances of one of his own fangirls sitting next to him… yes that's right, Naruto had a fanclub as well, it may not have been as large as Sasuke's, but it still existed.

Turning over the single sheet of paper, Naruto immediately channelled a small amount of chakra into the paper to disrupt the fine layer of chakra covering it, revealing a much simpler test, which shouldn't have taken ten minutes to answer… the only reason he didn't call it out was simple, EVERY test was covered in a subtle genjutsu, meaning that it was a test to see if they could detect it.

After finishing his test, the young blond proceeded to lean back in his chair and fall asleep.

"Alright class, time's up, Mizuki will collect your papers and mark them while we go outside to test your taijutsu and accuracy," Iruka said as his assistant proceeded to collect the papers while the class went outside.

The tests were both very simple, fight Iruka and hit some moving targets… both of which Naruto aced… after all, clay disks are nowhere near as unpredictable as leaf shikigami when it came down to movement.

When both tests were finished, the class was called back in for the final portion of the exam, ninjutsu, which, just like everything else, Naruto aced.

"Alright class, you have an hour for lunch, when you get back you will either be given a hitae-ate and become an official ninja of Konohagakure, or you will stay for an extra year," Iruka claimed before the class left to get something to eat.

XXX

There was no doubt about it, Naruto passed with the highest marks in the class, securing his title of rookie of the year.

Of course, his mother had made sure to point out that he wasn't a genin YET because there was one more test to be administered and that was by the Jōnin sensei's.

So the blond proceeded to prepare himself for whatever challenge he would face in the second test.

XXX

"Here is the list of those who passed Hokage-sama," Iruka stated respectfully as he handed a folder over to the aged leader, who immediately began reading the profiles.

"I see… out of everyone here, I'm almost certain that only nine of them will pass their sensei's tests… the problem arises on how to arrange them… I can't place Naruto and Sasuke on the same team due to them both being at the top of the class…" the Hokage muttered to himself before a small grin appeared on his face and he placed the nine profiles in three separate folders, before handing them all back to the Chūnin instructor, "arrange the rest however you want Iruka."

"Hai Hokage-sama," and with that, the teacher was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

"So… did you manage to see who's with who?" Naruto asked a blue orb with what appeared to be orange goggles and only one eye.

"Of course I did, what do ya take me for? An idiot?" the ghost said indignantly.

"Well you are a self proclaimed 'dobe'," the blond stated, causing the orb to open its mouth to retort, before letting out a sigh.

"Point taken… anyway, from what I've seen you're teammates are bug boy and you're number one fangirl," the blue blob told him, causing his head to drop, "and as for your sensei… his name is Sarutobi Asuma, the only thing I really know about him is that he's a chain smoker, uses trench knives and was once one of the Shugonin Jūnishi."

"I see… and if his name is anything to go by then he's probably related to Ojisan… anyway, thanks for the help Obito," the young blond said after thinking for a short time.

"Are you sure you don't want my help in battle?" Obito asked.

"Yeah… I'm fine just using mom, Imari, Shigaraki, Zenki, Kouki, Morphine and Pukka," the shaman claimed, causing the ghost to take a sombre mood.

"Let me guess, you were hoping to get the chance to speak with Kakashi again," Kushina stated as she noticed the blue ghosts reaction.

"(sigh) yeah."

"And why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Naruto asked it, causing it to look at him with a questioning gaze, "if you just wanted to speak with someone then I'm more than happy to help ya."

"Really?"

"Yeah, the only problem I can foresee is this guy not believing that you're… well you," the blond shaman stated as he looked at the floating orb, "but can we find him later? I've sorta gotta get to class."

"Sure, besides, he's going to be Sasuke's sensei," the floating orb said before following the blond to school.

XXX

"Team seven will consist of Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata and Nara Shikamaru. Team 8 will consist of Akimichi Chōji, Inuzuka Kiba and Haruno Sakura. Team 10 will consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Aburame Shino and Yamanaka Ino, your sensei's will be here soon," Iruka told the group of youths before dismissing them for lunch.

"So Naruto-kun… do you want to get some lunch together? Seeing as we're on the same team," the young blonde that was placed on the same team as him asked as seductively as she could while wrapping her arms around the shamans neck.

"Heh heh… I think I'll pass Yamanaka-san, now could you please let go of me?" Naruto asked the fellow blonde nervously.

Truth be told, he didn't like Ino at all. Back when he was the deadlast she did nothing but laugh at him when he failed… however that changed when he was declared the top of the class. Even without his mothers help, he realised that the girl was a shallow and egocentric person that cared about her popularity and appearance more than anything else.

"Oh come on, we're on the same team so we should get to know each other better," the Yamanaka heir said in an attempt to get closer to him.

"Then why haven't you invited Shino?" the whiskered blond asked rhetorically, before forcefully removing the girls arms and disappearing via a little jutsu his mother taught, called shunshin.

"…"

"DAMMIT!"

XXX

"(sigh) damn that girl, always harassing me like that," Naruto muttered under his breath as he reappeared in an almost abandoned classroom.

"Yeah, why can't those stupid fangirls leave us alone," came a response from across the room.

"So what'cha got for lunch today Sasuke?" the blond asked as he proceeded to rest against a wall and pull out a bento.

"Heh, nothing special… it's annoying that we aren't on the same team, you know, you, me and Shikamaru would make a much better team than the ones we're getting placed on," the raven haired Uchiha said calmly.

"Yeah, but unfortunately we're both at the top of the class so that alone goes against the normal team assignments… besides at least you have Hinata instead of Sakura, so she will probably keep quiet and leave you alone… unlike the girl in my team," Naruto finished with his head held low.

"Heh, point taken… anyway, you up to training again later? I'm sure I'll get you this time," the dark haired Uchiha stated with a smirk.

"Heh, that's what you always say, and every time you never even hit me… anyway, I think I should head back to class and meet my sensei… Oh yeah, before I forget, you're sensei is Hatake Kakashi… he'll be at least two hours late, so don't worry too much about getting back," Naruto informed one of his few friends.

"Heh, thanks for the heads up," and with that the duo proceeded to shunshin into the classroom.

XXX

Sitting in his usual seat, Naruto waited patiently for his sensei to arrive while attempting to ignore the blond haired fangirl that he was going to have to put up with from now on.

It didn't take long for the door to open, revealing a dark haired woman with ruby red eyes and a dress made out of white bandages and red clothe… and right next to her was a middle aged man with dark hair, a small beard and a cigarette trapped between his lips.

"Team eight, you're with me," the woman stated calmly.

"Team ten, come on," the smoker said casually, before both teams proceeded to follow their new sensei's.

XXX

"Alright team… my name is Sarutobi Asuma and I will be your sensei from this day onwards… just don't bug me too much," the Jōnin said before throwing away the butt of his smoke and placing a new one in his mouth.

"Uh, sensei? I heard that we're supposed to get tested again to see if we're ready to actually be genin… is that true?" Naruto asked, not understanding why the man introduced himself the way he did.

"Well… yeah… but I don't really like doing that, you see the Jōnin test is supposed to see if you can work together as a team but a team doesn't have good teamwork straight off the bat, they learn to work together through experience… so I'm not going to test you," the chain smoker explained.

"Why do I get the impression you're just too lazy to test us?" the shaman asked blankly.

"Yeah… I get that feeling too," Ino backed up the other blond.

"You aren't really being fair… besides, I was planning on testing your individual skills rather than your teamwork," Asuma told them.

"Oh… sorry it's just the way you said about not testing us," Naruto apologised.

"Don't worry about it, you're not the first to think I'm just a lazy bum… sure I might be lazy, but I'm still a ninja. Anyway, since I'm planning on testing you tomorrow, how about we all go and get something to eat and get to know each other better that way?"

"I think I'll pass… I have some things I need to do so I'll see you tomorrow," Naruto replied calmly, deflating the other blond in the process.

"Fine then, meet us at training ground 13 at 0900 hours," the bearded Jōnin ordered, before the blond vanished in a swirl of leaves.

XXX

"So what do you have to do?" Obito asked the shaman as he walked along the street.

"Stay away from Ino," Naruto deadpanned quietly.

"That's it?"

"And find this Kakashi guy… problem is that I don't even know where to start looking," the blond muttered to himself.

"Naru-chan, you already know Kakashi," Kushina said as she finally decided to speak.

"Huh? I do?"

"Yeah, Kakashi is the Inu masked ANBU."

"Really? Well that makes things a lot easier," the young shaman said quietly before closing his eyes and searching for the man's furyoku signature, quickly finding it in a training ground within Konoha's walls, "alright then, let's go," and with that said, the calm blond proceeded to race towards the familiar signature.

XXX

Standing looking at a memorial stone in training ground three, Hatake Kakashi knew he should meet his new students… but they could wait another couple of minutes.

That was his thinking as he continued to stare at the stone that held the names of several of his friends and his sensei.

"Yo Inu-san, been a while huh?" came the cheerful call that broke the silver haired cyclops out of his stupor.

"Huh?" came the confused response of the Jōnin, "I think you've got me confused with someone else kid," the masked man said before turning back to the stone.

"No I haven't, I know exactly who you are Kakashi-san," Naruto stated firmly as he proceeded to look at the engraved names, "ah, Namikaze Minato, aka, the Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō, the Yondaime Hokage, your sensei and my Tousan."

Kakashi froze. He was certain he had just heard Uzumaki Naruto call the Yondaime his father, of course he was already aware of the fact, but the problem lay with where the blond had learned that titbit information.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Heh, tell me, do you know what chakra is?" the blond asked the older man.

"Chakra is a combination of physical and spiritual energies," "Wrong." "Huh?"

"I said you're wrong, chakra isn't a combination of physical and spiritual energies like most people think, if it was then simply creating it would kill you… chakra is physical and MENTAL energy, NOT spiritual," the blond stated.

"And what makes you so certain of that?"

"Let me put it this way, if you have enough spiritual energy to use it to create chakra, then you would easily have enough to see ghosts."

"See ghosts?"

"Yep… just like me," the young shaman stated chirpily.

"Just like you?"

"Yeah, how about I put it this way, I was told who my father was by a ghost called Uzumaki Kushina… anyway, I think it's time to do what I came here to do," Naruto informed the silver haired Jōnin, before holding his hand out in front of him and channelling a small amount of furyoku into Obito.

"Huh? Whoa… this is actually pretty cool," the blue orb stated in a voice that was VERY familiar to the cycloptic Jōnin, "Yo Kakashi, how's it going?"

"Is this supposed to be some kind of joke? If so then I don't appreciate it," the Jōnin stated coldly as he looked at the blue orb.

"Why would I make such an insensitive joke? Besides, who do you think would tell me about Uchiha Obito and the eye he gave you?"

"Well I've gotta say that this does seem a little too much like a prank," the former Uchiha stated quietly.

"Well I did say I would let you speak to him, I never said he'd believe us."

"Yeah, your right, but then again if I'm ever to get the teme to stop staring at that freakin stone all day long then I'm going to have to get him to believe me some way," the deceased individual muttered as it proceeded to cast a serious eye towards the ground in thought.

"If you really are Obito then what did you give me for my Jōnin graduation," Kakashi stated calmly as he observed the sapphire orb.

"Huh? Do you mean before the mission or during it? Because I'm pretty sure I forgot to get you anything, but ended up changing your views and giving you my newly awakened sharingan."

"How did you change my views?"

"All I really remember is going on a rant about your tousan being a hero before running away to save Rin," the orange goggled spirit stated bluntly.

Naruto wasn't quite sure what to make of the current situation. Both Obito and Kakashi were simply staring at each other's eye, neither making an form of move to do or say anything.

"You really are Obito aren't you?" the silver haired Jōnin finally stated after what seemed like an eternity.

"That's what we've been trying to say since the beginning teme!"

"Heheheh, I can't believe that this is happening, sensei's kid comes along and acts as a medium for you to contact me… seems like something out of a bedtime story," the masked man said happily, resulting in both spiritually aware individuals sweatdropping at the sudden change in the former ANBU's demeanour.

"So you actually believe us now?" Naruto asked hoping that they were through with the attempts to convince the tall man.

"I don't really have any choice… only me and Obito knew that he called my father a hero, since I never told anyone after his death," the cycloptic Jōnin stated as he looked back at the memorial stone.

"Well then Kakashi… GET YOUR ASS OVER TO THE ACADEMY AND MEET YOUR STUDENTS ALREADY! It was MY thing to be unfashionably late, NOT yours… and if you keep it up then I am so suing you!" the one eyed ghost shouted at he currently frozen Jōnin.

"How do you intend to sue me when you're dead?"

"Because Hokage-sama knows all about Naruto's ability to see the dead and I think most people would be happy to see your Icha Icha collection burned," the deceased stated mischievously.

"You wouldn't."

"Just watch me."

"(sigh) fine then… I'll try to be on time from now on… anyway I'll speak to you later, since I have to see my new students," Kakashi stated before vanishing via shunshin.

"…"

"Well I think that went well," Naruto stated calmly.

"Ditto."

XXX

It was 0830 and we find a certain Sunkist blond quietly meditating on top of a small tree stump that existed in training ground 13.

"So Naruto-sama, what is your plan of combat?" Imari asked as she watched her master sit like a stone.

"Oh come on, isn't it obvious, he's going to test this Jōnin's taijutsu using Fumon Tonkou, while making sure to nullify any chakra the dude uses. Depending on the outcome he'll either stick with taijutsu or move onto oversouls to give him a ranged advantage," Shigaraki stated in exasperation.

"Shut up Shigaraki, I was asking Naruto-sama, not you," the white kitsune snapped back.

"And yet Shigaraki is perfectly correct… after all it does seem like the most effective tactic outside of overwhelming my opponents with Konoha Shikigami," Naruto stated as he proceeded to track the signatures of his teammates and sensei within the village.

"So… will you be using me Naru-chan?" a familiar red orb asked.

"If I need to… but only if I need to, I don't intend on revealing my entire hand to my new sensei," the blond answered.

"But why? As your sensei he's supposed to know what you can do and help you improve on your skills."

"And exactly how is he supposed to help me with my shamanic training? Only Imari, Shigaraki and other serei class spirits that were around at the time of the shaman could possibly teach me how to get stronger in that area… my new sensei can teach me how to fight as a ninja but has no idea about fighting as a shaman."

"Naruto has a point Kushina… revealing everything he can do won't help him get stronger, best that he just stick to the most basic techniques he can," the red Tanuki informed the red orb calmly.

"Hello Sensei, you're early," the young blond suddenly called out, before the bearded form of Asuma emerged from the tree line.

"I'm supposed to be the one who says that Naruto," the chain smoker replied.

"I'm not early… I started using this training ground in the morning about two years ago, you just arrived during my meditation time," the blond stated cheerfully before resuming his meditations.

"Great, so I've got a calmer version of Gai," the Jōnin muttered just loud enough for the blond to hear.

"Hell no… the only things I have in common with that freak is my habit of waking up early and my skill in taijutsu," Naruto stated with wide eyes.

"Your skill in taijutsu?"

"Yeah, my skill in taijutsu is up there with bushy brows, but he would crush me with his ridiculous speed," the shaman stated calmly.

"You know how fast Gai is?"

"Yeah… I remember sparring with him once, he was WAY too fast even WITH his weights on… and if I'm right then he was wearing something like two six tonne straps, I really don't want to find out just how fast he is without them."

"Heh, at least you aren't too cocky about your skills."

"Actually I AM very confident in my skills, I'm just not as confident in my physical conditioning, after all, I always beat the academy instructors in taijutsu despite only having about 70% of their strength and speed… even when they teamed up against me," the cloaked child stated with a large grin.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I can probably keep up with you, there is no guarantee but it is possible."

"Want to bet on that?"

"Hell no… god dammit, why did Ino have to get here before Shino," the whiskered blond muttered before a blond blur flew at him… only to fly straight through the now empty space as Naruto proceeded to avoid her by standing on a small river that ran through the training ground.

"How did you know Ino was there?" Asuma asked the blond boy as Ino attempted to figure out how to get to the shaman.

"Oh, don't worry too much, I'm just a sensor type that could put the Hyūga out of business," the blue eyed teen stated with a smile when the konoichi failed to figure out how to reach him.

"You're a sensor type?"

"Yeah, your old man organised the teams as assault, tracker and support, however since Shino is only capable of tracking if he's already been contact with the target, Jiji put me here to make up for his specialisation," the blond explained, "besides Shino is actually better suited to a support role."

"You seem to know a little too much," the chain smoker stated with narrowed eyes.

"Let me put it to you this way, I have a spy network that makes Jiraiya of the Sannin's look like playground gossip."

"And does the Hokage know about this spy network of yours?"

"Yep, now if you don't mind, Shino is about to arrive in thirteen seconds," the blond confirmed and sure enough, the final member of the team arrive exactly as the blond predicted.

"Wow… I can't believe you're even stronger than I thought!" the other blonde practically shouted when the bug user showed up.

"Listen Ino, I have absolutely Zero interest in you so please leave me alone before I have to request a restraining order from the Hokage."

"What? But why? Don't you think I'm pretty?"

"That isn't the point Ino, the point is that I'm not interested in a shallow relationship like the one you're after."

"What do you mean shallow, I love you and,"

"No you don't, back before I became rookie of the year you had absolutely no interest in me, you think you love me because I'm the strongest in the class, but that isn't love, that is lust, so please leave me alone," Naruto stated coldly, "so Asuma-sensei, who's up first?"

"Let's start with Ino, since she seems to be the weak link in the team," the Jōnin stated, earning an indignant shout from the teams support as Naruto proceeded to return to his stump.

It couldn't even be called a fight. Ino proved her lower than average physical marks to be right on the money when she couldn't even force the Jōnin to use more than a single hand, until she attempted to hijack his mind, at which point Asuma decided to end her miserable attempt by effortlessly dodging the technique and placing a simple Kunai at the girls throat.

"(sigh) that was quite simply… pathetic, you have no power, no speed, no tactics, your skill in taijutsu is barely passable, you executed your technique without thinking over the situation… all in all I would say that you don't even deserve to be called a genin," the chain smoker informed her after she returned to her body.

"You don't have to be so harsh, does he Naruto-kun?"

"Actually, I thought he was sugar coating it," the blond informed her, earning a gasp of surprise off the fangirl.

"Alright, Shino you're up," Asuma said as he let the Konoichi get up and swap places with the Aburame.

"Shino, I've got a heads up for you, this guy is an expert in Katon and Fūton Ninjutsu," Naruto informed his teammate, who proceeded to respond with a small nod of acknowledgement before facing off against the seasoned Jōnin.

"Who the hell does he think he is? Not even saying thank you when you told him something that important," Ino shouted in anger.

"Ino, shut up, Shino gave me a better response than I expected from him, after all, he is an Aburame, the clan known for being cold and calculating, so just shut up about it."

"Alright Shino, come at me with everything you've got," the chain smoker ordered before evading several insects that erupted from the Aburame's coat, "relax Shino, I'm not going to use my jutsu against your bugs, I know how long it takes to get a decent sized hive and I don't want to have to wait for you to build your army back up."

"Although I appreciate your logic, I do not trust you enough to use my usual number in case you do decide to burn them," the bug user stated in a cold monotone before the Jōnin charged in with his trench knifes held ready.

Barely dodging the strike, Shino was surprised when he found his insects unprepared to go near the chain smoker.

"It would appear as though my insects are not prepared to go near you for some reason, I would assume it is due to your fragrance," the glasses wearing genin stated calmly, "in such a scenario, I believe it would be appropriate to forfeit the match."

"(sigh) So are you trying to tell me that you don't have any skill that isn't oriented around your insects?" Asuma asked as he took a drag of his cigarette.

"No, I also possess one of the top taijutsu scores within the academy, however it is nowhere near good enough to touch a Jōnin such as yourself."

"I guess you really are an Aburame huh, thinking everything over before going with the best course of action… (sigh) fine then, you're last Uzumaki," Asuma said before Naruto and Shino switched places.

Moving his hand to the large metal clasp that held his cloak in place, Naruto proceeded to undo it before throwing the cloak over to his teammates, revealing the black sleeveless shirt and shinobi pants that he wore underneath the robe.

"You ready Asuma-sensei?"

"Yeah, come at me with everything you got," the chain smoker ordered, before the whiskered genin charged him head on.

Pulling out one of his trench knives, Asuma proceeded to channel a small amount of Fūton chakra into the blade in an attempt to increase his range, only to blink in shock when halfway through his counter swing, the fine coating suddenly dispersed into the air, leaving a regular blade to flow harmlessly past the dodging blond, who quickly proceeded to land a chakra enhanced punch to the older man's gut.

Quickly jumping back, Asuma started to ponder the reason for his Hien technique's failure, after all, it had never failed him before, however he was quickly forced to dodge an incoming barrage of kunai courtesy of his new student, who was currently making his way towards him with his fist cocked back, before launching it at the Jōnin who easily dodged the slower attack.

The chain smoker proceeded to lift his leg in an attempt to catch the blond off guard and hit his stomach, only to watch in surprise as the genin simply leapt over the offending limb and sent an elbow towards the back of the Jōnin's head.

Feeling a sharp pain course through the back of his skull, Asuma couldn't do more than stumble as his student continued to launch a relentless assault hitting the Jōnin at least once every two strikes. Quickly realising that the blond hadn't been joking about his taijutsu skills, Asuma quickly focussed a small amount of chakra before swapping places with a random log and blinking in surprise when he noticed the blond cease his assault before hitting the object.

Quickly flying through several handseals, Asuma proceeded to use a technique he was certain the blond could dodge, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" with that call a large ball of fire erupted from the Jōnin's mouth before charging straight at the blond genin, who simply stood calmly as the massive attack simply dispersed several feet from him.

Watching his technique fail, Asuma now KNEW something was wrong, so he proceeded to cut off his chakra flow before re-establishing it… and finding no difference that would be expected of a genjutsu.

"That technique Asuma-sensei is a little something I like to call chakra nullification, it doesn't matter how much you use, I will simply cancel it out and render it useless," Naruto explained shocking everyone in the field, "and before you ask me to teach it to others, I've already gotten it registered as a Hidenjutsu by the Hokage so don't bother."

"You got it registered as a Hidenjutsu? Then that would mean that you have more than just that one technique at your disposal," the Jōnin concluded.

"Let me put it to you this way Asuma-sensei, you haven't even seen a tenth of my ability, so do you want to continue this or are you going to get your ass kicked even more," the blond asked calmly.

"You do realise that I can help you with your skills right?"

"No you can't, because my other skills use an energy that isn't chakra, in other words you don't even have the faintest idea of how to use my techniques," the whiskered genin informed the older ninja.

"Even if that is the case, I still need to know what you can and can't do."

"Actually there is nothing in the rules saying that we HAVE to give you the full extent of our abilities, merely that you need to know enough to help us advance, which you already have, since you've already seen everything I can do with chakra that isn't a control exercise," Naruto explained.

"What do you mean everything you can do with chakra? You can make bunshins as well!" Ino practically shouted.

"Actually, I can't… I was actually using a completely different technique then, you might get to see it someday but I don't really intend on showing off everything I can do."

"(sigh) fine then, we'll stop there for today, since I don't actually know the full extent of your abilities I can't actually say anything except that your taijutsu is as good as you say and you'll obviously possess the advantage in ranged combat once you get some ranged techniques in your arsenal," Asuma stated.

"Actually, I already have several ranged techniques but I didn't want to reveal them in a simple spar," the blond corrected.

"(sigh) I give up… anyway, same time, same place tomorrow, I've got to give Hokage-sama my results," the chain smoker stated before vanishing via shunshin, quickly followed by the blond shaman.


	6. Chapter 6

Sarutobi Asuma couldn't believe it. His own father had told him that he was practically useless as a sensei in the case of his most advanced student. It hurt his pride more than the old man had realised. So here he was seething as he walked down the main street of the village, wondering why the blond had been capable of beating him.

Thinking back on it, the child was fast, it was obvious that he was using a lot of chakra to speed up his muscle movements, however his reaction time was what made him so dangerous at close range, however he did it, his reflexes were easily far beyond that of a Sharingan… it was almost as if the blond knew what he would do before he even started the action.

And then there was the child's 'chakra nullification' as he called it. What caught Asuma's eye about that technique wasn't the fact that it stopped his ninjutsu, it was HOW it stopped it. The technique hadn't simply disappeared, it had dispersed, which got the Jōnin thinking about it and in the end he managed to come up with a single possibility, the blond wasn't nullifying the chakra like he made it sound, he was nullifying the manipulation. Without either shape or nature manipulation, chakra was nothing more than a useless gas that would simply disappear into the air. Of course if the Jōnin was right about what the blond was doing then he could render any purely chakra based attacks obsolete, however using chakra to move a solid substance was a completely different matter all together. Even if the chakra was cut off then the substance would still maintain its momentum and strike down the blond if he didn't dodge it. So in other words, the technique wasn't a perfect long range counter and anything that was thrown at him was still very dangerous.

The more Asuma thought about what he had learned about the blond during their small spar, the more it dawned on him just how advanced the genin was, not just for his age but for any ninja of Konoha… thinking about it the child was quite easily a future candidate for the position of Hokage.

And with his mind focused on his whiskered student, Asuma proceeded to enter a small bar and start drinking.

XXX XXX XXX

Thinking back on his spar with Asuma, Naruto couldn't help but berate himself on his performance. Sure he had managed to hold his own against the older man in taijutsu, however he had also slightly overloaded his muscles courtesy of using a little too much chakra in them so he could keep up with his sensei… even if he was still forced to read where the Jōnin would dodge and strike there before the man had a chance to avoid him again.

"What's the problem Naru-chan?" came a question from a familiar red blob as she watched her son sit on his bed with disappointment clear on his face.

"(sigh) if Asuma-sensei hadn't given up then and decided to go back into a taijutsu match with me, I would've probably lost," the spiky haired youth admitted surprising his invisible guardians.

"Why? It looked like you were kicking his ass back then," Shigaraki stated what the rest were thinking.

"(sigh) I was only capable of keeping up with him by overloading my muscles with chakra… if he was to continue fighting me then I would've either been forced to cut the chakra to my muscles and be overwhelmed by his strength and speed, or seriously damage them in simple sparring," Naruto explained, causing his mothers eyes to narrow at that piece of information.

"So you're saying that you could've possibly ended your shinobi career over a simple spar with your Jōnin instructor?!" Kushina shouted angrily at his 'foolishness'.

"Trust me, I wouldn't do something that stupid, I was going to turn the pace down if he didn't give up then," the whiskered blond explained calmly as he let his furyoku flow through his body, speeding up his natural recovery as his cells started to repair themselves courtesy of the extra energy given to them.

"…(sigh) fine then, are you healing yourself now?"

"Of course Kaasan, now would you please let me sleep?" the spiky haired boy asked as he proceeded to walk towards his bed, only to hear the voice of a familiar kitsune.

"And what about your private study?" Imari asked in a 'you're not getting out of it that easily' tone.

"Not tonight, I know D-ranks are just household chores but that doesn't mean I want to be tired for my first one… I wonder if we'll be chasing the daimyo's cat… that's supposed to be a living hell," the azure eyed child muttered out in curiosity.

"And you think you'll have trouble with an animal why?" Shigaraki asked as he thought over what might happen if they were assigned to catch the cat.

"I don't but it will be interesting to see just how determined the cat is to escape the woman," Naruto answered with a small smile before collapsing on his bed and before Imari could say anything, he was fast asleep.

"Well you can give him one day off," the red Tanuki said.

"Shut up Shigaraki."

XXX XXX XXX

The wife of the fire daimyo couldn't believe it… everyone else could but she couldn't. After years of crushing hugs, Tora had quite literally exploded in her arms, his blood soaked fur and fractured bones decorating the Hokage's office as the woman stared at her dead pet in disbelief.

"Wow… and I thought I had a death grip."

No one could bring themselves to shout at Naruto as he made that comment because despite the callousness of it, the woman had quite literally crushed her pet to death.

With her brain finally catching onto the truth of the situation, the obese woman broke down in tears as all but the secretary (who was busy cleaning up the mess) watched, quietly mourning the unfortunate animal.

"Uh, excuse me, Madamu Shijimi, but we're supposed to be getting a new mission so could you please leave?" the uncaring blond asked as he pointed towards the door, prompting the sobbing woman to glare at him as best she could.

"Y-you! I've just lost my precious and that's all you can say?!" the daimyo's wife shouted in rage as she dropped the remains of the cat and stomped towards the blond.

"Well you were the one that hugged it so hard it burst," came the deadpanned reply as the other ninja's in the room stared at him in disbelief… that boy was actually talking back to the daimyo's wife.

"S-shut up! You know nothing!"

"Meh, so what? You can always get another one, that is until you burst that one as well," came the calm response from the whiskered blond, causing the woman to suddenly turn quiet before bursting into tears and running out of the room. For several seconds there was an unholy silence until the blue eyed boy spoke once again, "so did you read her mind Ino?"

"Yeah," came the other blonds' calm response, shocking the rest of the ninja at the fact that she had actually risked the mind of the woman, "she's not going to get another pet."

"Oh well… at least that means she won't harm anymore," Naruto stated calmly as the other inhabitants stared in shock at his callousness.

"But was going that far really necessary Naruto-sama?" the young secretary asked before finding herself surrounded by ANBU on all sides, not so much as flinching at the rapid response from the team that was hidden in the room.

"ANBU stand down," the Sandaime ordered, surprising the armoured ninjas at his quick dismissal of the secretary.

"But Hokage-sama! Don't you realise that her voice is wrong?" a purple haired woman wearing a cat mask asked the aged leader in shock.

"Indeed I know that isn't her voice, however I also know the voice you just heard and they are not hostile," the robed figure stated, causing the ANBU to hesitantly lower their ninjato, "so do you mind telling me where my real secretary is Imari?"

"Just getting you some premium coffee from a small shop on the outskirts of town," the woman answered before dropping the remains of the cat onto the rest of it and giving it a kick. What happened next surprised most occupants of the room, as the bloody mess suddenly warped and twisted into the shape of a large, red Tanuki wearing a conical hat.

"Ow! What the hell was that for Imari?!" the red Tanuki shouted indignantly scaring all but two humans in the room.

"The daimyo's wife is gone, you don't need to pretend to be a dead cat anymore," came the monotone response from the 'secretary' before her form started to twist, once again causing shock to permeate the room as her true form was revealed to the spectators.

"That doesn't mean you should kick me you bitch!" came Shigaraki barked back angrily.

"Don't call me a dog you retarded racoon!" the normally apathetic kitsune shouted angrily.

"Racoon? I'm a Tanuki you blind whore!" and with that the ninja could only stare dumbfounded as the two Yamagi shouted insults back and forth.

"(sigh) That's enough you two! Both of you shut up or you'll trade places with Kouki and Zenki!" an irritated blond shouted causing the two to suddenly become very quiet.

"Now may I ask why you thought it was a good idea to make Madamu Shijimi think she'd killed her cat?" the Hokage asked seriously.

"(sigh) actually Shigaraki was supposed to go home with her and pretend to get eaten or something," the genin stated as he stared at the Tanuki.

"What?! I didn't know she'd crush me like that, hell by the time I realised the Oversoul wouldn't survive her hug all I could do was change my shape… and that was the first thing that came to mind," the red shapeshifter stated before turning his head away from the shaman.

"Whoa, whoa, did you just say the Oversoul wouldn't survive her hug?" the cloaked blond asked in disbelief, earning a nod off the Tanuki, "damn, just how tight is her grip?"

"Uh… Naruto-kun… what's an Oversoul, what are those things and why isn't Hokage-sama surprised?" Ino asked in uncertainty.

"(sigh) clan secrets… and Hokage-sama's already met them," the blond stated calmly, causing everyone to turn towards the aged leader who just looked on blankly.

"I have a question for you Naruto… where is the real Tora?" Sarutobi asked calmly, hoping that the cat was at least going to get looked after.

"Right here," came the simple response from the blond before he lifted his cloak to reveal a peacefully sleeping cat cradled in one of his arms.

"And what exactly do you intend on doing with it?"

"Keep it away from Madamu Shijimi," came the deadpanned reply that caused the Hokage to look at him like he'd grown another head.

"And where do you intend on keeping it?"

"I've got a friend I met on one of my travels that loves cats, I'm pretty sure she'd be more than happy to look after it," the young shaman said with a smile.

"And where is this friend of yours?" Sarutobi asked, fully expecting the blond to say somewhere suicidal.

"Kumo," yep, he was right, though the old man would admit he expected the blond to say Iwa… but thinking about it, his mother probably wouldn't let him go there, at least Kumo loved jinchūriki like Konoha loved bloodlines… sure they loved bloodlines as well but they still loved jinchūriki.

"And may I ask who this friend of yours is exactly?"

"The jinchūriki of the Nibi," the blond stated calmly.

"As in the bijū that takes the form of a cat?" the aged hokage asked blankly, earning a nod of confirmation from the whiskered child, "and exactly how do you plan on getting Tora over there?"

"Shigaraki knows how to fly," Naruto stated with a grin, only for the Tanuki to look at him blankly.

"I might know how to fly but that doesn't mean I'm good at it," the red Tanuki stated blankly, confusing most people in the room as to how a Tanuki could possibly fly.

"Well it's either you or Imari, and when you consider the fact that Imari refuses to let me out of her sight so I don't skip out on training you're the only option," the blue eyed boy stated, completely ignoring the blank stares coming from the rest of the occupants of the room.

"Hey Imari, how about if I look over Naruto-sama's training?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You're an even bigger slob than Naruto-sama," the white porcelain kitsune stated calmly.

"I'M NOT A SLOB!" came the indignant cry of BOTH Shigaraki and Naruto… oh how they hated Imari's definition of a slob (anyone that would sleep more than five hours a day and work less than eighteen).

"I would have to agree with Naruto-kun Imari… by your definition nearly everyone is a slob," the aged leader stated, earning a glare off the nearly three thousand year old mountain spirit.

"(sigh) well anyway," the blond (male) genin said, breaking the mood in the process, "I think we're supposed to either get a new mission or finish for the day aren't we?"

"Ah yes, that is correct Naruto-kun, team ten, you are free to leave," the aged leader stated with an air of authority before Imari and Shigaraki suddenly disappeared and Naruto picked up two small pebbles that appeared where the duo once stood.

"See ya Jiji," the young blond said as soon as he had picked up the stones, before he casually waltzed out of the room, immediately followed by the rest of his team who couldn't help but think about what Imari and Shigaraki were.

"Naruto, would you care to explain what those… things were?" Asuma asked the blond hoping he would give him at least enough information to put him at ease concerning the blonds 'partners'.

"Let's see… ah… um… no," came the reply after the blond put an exaggerated amount of thought behind the statement.

"Look Naruto, if I don't know what you can do then I can't help you learn to control your skills better," the chain smoker stated in an attempt to convince the blond to share something with him.

"And you think you can teach me better than a pair of Yamagi that are nearly three thousand years old?" came the whiskered boy's response, "now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to prepare Tora something for the trip to Kumo," and with that said the blond walked away from his team, the fat cat hidden under his robe.

"What the hell did he mean by that?" Ino asked as she processed what the blond said about Yamagi.

"I don't know, but the more I learn the less comfortable I feel about that boy," Asuma admitted as he watched the young shaman walk away calmly.

XXX XXX XXX

"I hope you realise that Asuma is getting really uncomfortable with you because of your stubbornness," Kushina stated as she watched her son write a letter and pack a few essentials for the cat in his 'casual' outfit this time wearing a red shirt instead of orange one like he did during the academy exam.

"Yeah he does seem to be quite worried about my skills, can't really blame him either when you consider my status as a jinchūriki," the spiky haired blond admitted casually.

"Then why do you refuse to tell him about your abilities as a shaman?" the red blob asked in confusion.

"And exactly how is saying 'I see dead people' going to help?" the whiskered boy deadpanned.

"You don't have to phrase it like that," the emerald eyed spirit stated blankly, "but I guess I can see why you don't want to tell him… it could make you sound insane."

"So it's settled then, I'm not going to tell him anything," Naruto said chirpily before rolling up the letter.

"Huh? WHEN DID I SAY THAT!" the youngest spirit shouted indignantly at her son's answer.

"Just then, after all if he sends me to the shrinks then how the hell am I going to continue being a ninja?" the genin asked as he placed Tora in a small cage with some food and a baby bottle of diluted milk for it to drink, "alright Shigaraki, take Tora to Kumo's kitty cat," the young shaman ordered as he bound the Tanuki's soul to his pebble, watching calmly as it shifted into the form of a large hawk and pick up the cage and letter before rocketing out of the window at speeds too great for any normal bird to reach.

"Well now that you've dealt with the cat, it's time for you to make up for skiving last night," Imari said with nothing but seriousness, causing the blond to simply nod in affirmation, fully expecting the situation since the night before, "well then, why don't we work on your weakest area, necromancy."

"Eh? Why do I have to practice my necromancy? You know how much I hate defiling corpse's like that," the azure eyed child asked with sadness clear in his voice.

"Well you wouldn't have to if you hadn't decided to get some extra sleep last night," the white fox told him with a malicious grin,

"You can be really evil at times you know," the whiskered child stated before proceeding to Oversoul Kouki and Zenki in a pair of paper tags and leave his apartment.

XXX XXX XXX

Taking a deep breath out before placing a cigarette to his lips, Sarutobi Asuma couldn't help but start mumbling to no-one as he stared at a name on a single headstone, Sarutobi Biwako.

"(sigh) I can't believe how much dad trusts Naruto… what's worse is that he refuses to tell me anything… (sigh) what would you do if you were in my position?" the bearded Jōnin asked as he tried to think about what his mother would've done if she was in his shoes.

"She would've kicked his ass until he told her," came a familiar voice from behind him, causing him to turn around and look at his blond student and blink at the difference in his attire.

"Two things, how the hell do you know that and what the hell is up with those clothes?" the bearded Jōnin asked, beginning to feel slightly angry at the idea that his father had told the blond about the dead woman.

"About how I know what she was like… if I told you, you wouldn't believe me… and what's wrong with my clothes?" the blue eyed child asked with a noticeable amount of anger in the last part, easily surprising the Jōnin.

"Well the problem with your clothes is that they're too bright and impractical for a ninja to wear, so why are you wearing them?" Asuma asked seriously.

"Because I'm off duty of course, unlike you I actually have a different wardrobe for casual wear," the spiky haired shaman stated calmly, earning a blank stare off his 'sensei'.

"(sigh) and what if you're suddenly called on a mission or the village is invaded?" the chain smoker asked, trying to get the blond to realise that there was a reason for a ninja to wear practical clothing all the time.

"(sigh) I know you don't trust me, but please understand that if anything serious like that DID happen, I would've had more than enough time to prepare courtesy of my spy network," Naruto stated calmly, causing Asuma to raise an eyebrow at the blonds' confidence in his spy network.

"And what if something escaped your spy networks gaze?" the older of the two asked curiously.

"If something managed to get through my spy network, then we would all be dead before we even realised it was there," the whiskered blond said without hesitation.

"(sigh) you seem overconfident about this spy network of yours, so tell me, what would you do if it did fail you?" Asuma asked seriously.

"I know you won't believe me, but it won't fail me for anything less than the Nidaime Tsuchikage… and the so called 'invisible man' is long dead," the spirit user stated calmly, earning yet another sigh of annoyance off his sensei.

"That's it, I give up, you can just be caught off guard for all I care," and with that said Asuma left the cemetery.

"(sigh) I still don't understand why I need to learn this damn skill," the blond muttered to himself before channelling his furyoku, not really bothering about the fact his sensei was spying on him... he had already wasted time by talking to the man and Imari was getting pissed off about it.

From his position overlooking the graveyard, Asuma suddenly felt his blood run cold as fear overtook his mind… it wasn't supposed to be possible for corpse's to suddenly erupt from the ground and start walking. It was after several minutes of watching the blond stand with his arms outstretched to his sides that things began to get even weirder for the Jōnin as the corpses that lacked any flesh suddenly started to come apart before rearranging themselves into what could only be described as a bijū sized skeleton.

Quickly cutting the flow of chakra in his coils, the Jōnin confirmed to himself that what he seeing wasn't an illusion, but that there really was a giant skeleton that seemed to follow his student's movements. So without taking another pause, the bearded Jōnin fled the scene to inform his father… hopefully the Hokage would see sense and challenge the blonds' activities, that is if he believed that the child could animate corpses.

XXX XXX XXX

Hiruzen couldn't help but let out a tired sigh as his clones finally dispersed after finishing signing the masses of paperwork he had been given during the day. Calmly standing up and walking over to his desk, he opened one of the draws and placed his favourite little orange book in it before closing the desk.

Letting out a yawn, he made his way to the door of his office… before his reflexes kicked in and he suddenly found himself in a defensive stance with a kunai in hand as he stood face to face with his son as the door slammed open.

Silence reigned as the two simply stood blinking at each other, until Asuma decided to break the silence.

"Hokage-sama, can I talk to you about Naruto?" the chain smoker asked seriously, earning an exasperated sigh off the older man.

"What is it this time Asuma?" the aged leader couldn't help but ask with annoyance clear in his tone.

"I know this might sound stupid… but I've just seen him animate an entire graveyard and use the corpses to create some kind of giant," the Jōnin stated, fully expecting his father to argue with his statement on it being impossible.

"And your point is?" the Sandaime asked, shocking the younger of the duo with his simple acceptance of the statement.

"What do you mean by that?" the trench knife user asked in disbelief.

"Well I am fully aware of ALL of Naruto's abilities, including his skill in necromancy… or as he prefers to call it, boneyard sorcery," the old man stated calmly, causing a tense silence to fill the room as the two simply looked at each other, one in disbelief and the other with a blank expression on his face.

"And you aren't even asking where he's learning this stuff?"

"Of course not, Naruto has happily SHOWN me where he's learning all his skills," the pipe smoking Kage stated calmly, further shocking his son, "now if you don't mind, I'm tired so please move and let me go home."

With that said, the younger of the two moved to the side and allowed his father to leave the room. Standing on his own, Asuma couldn't help but think about what his father had told him… Naruto had not just told him where he was learning his skills, he had actually shown him where he found these skills in the first place and the more experienced man had accepted that the blond wasn't a threat to the village despite the skills he refused to share with him.

Letting out a deep breath, he decided that if his father wasn't concerned about the blond then he shouldn't have any reason to be worried either, and with that thought, he left the office, closing the door behind him before deciding to go home himself.

* * *

Now as I said before this story will not be updated, it may be rewritten at some point however that is dependent largely on a poll I set up on my proper profile.


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